


I Put A Spell On You

by BonneyQ



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, F/M, Gajuvia Broship, Gruvia - Freeform, Harry Potter AU, HarryPotter!AU, Juvia's going to find herself throughout the years, Lots of if, Slytherin!Juvia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2018-09-21 18:18:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 67,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9561191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BonneyQ/pseuds/BonneyQ
Summary: [HarryPotter!AU] This is a story about how a lonely girl found out she was a witch and how her entire world changed after she went to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at the age of eleven, the place she’d found the ones she love, and more importantly: herself. [Two-shot]





	1. Before & First Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another HarryPotter!AU because of reasons, but before you proceed, I’m sorry but there’s this big-ass Author’s Note. You can skip it if you want to where there’s the cover, it will signalize the beginning of the story.  
> I've been wanting to write another HarryPotter!AU for months (since I watched Fantastic Beasts), a more complete one (whatever that means) and between those months I've seen and debated with people about Juvia's House and I think the common census is that she is a Hufflepuff now. (I emphasize the "now" here because I think she has changed since she was eleven.)  
> As much as I would love to have my baby in my House (Go, Hufflepuff!) I maintain my opinion she's a Slytherin, I wrote her as such and since I have a couple of hours of travel in a bus ahead of me, I'll tell you why.  
> When we saw her for the first time, she was part of the Element Four, the strongest enemies Fairy Tail had encountered so far and Mashima was trying very hard to make us all believe they were the worst. In Hogwarts, the "main" houses to have a fight going on for centuries are Gryffindors and Slytherins. I think Mashima would've made all Element Four into Slytherins just to make a point of the war between houses and only later on introduce the fact that no, Slytherins are just ordinary and they aren't necessarily bad just because they are driven people.  
> Besides, I think Juvia would've done well in Slytherin, a House where people like power as she was a powerful child, and for the first time that power would make her feel good about herself instead of a freak. So yeah, I think young Juvia would've enjoyed her power a little too much; because of her need to be liked. It doesn't make her less kind, less wonderful; just focused on something else as a young girl.  
> Later, when she started her feelings towards friendship with the people from other houses and falling in love with Gray, she'd get in touch with her Hufflepuff side and be the amazing Personification of Hufflepuff we see today. She'd be eleven when she knew she was a witch, an impressionable orphan trying to be liked. Five years later, she's a different person, we all would have been. I'm sure Peter Pettigrew didn't get into Gryffindor the scumbag he turned out to be. Dumbledore fell in love with one of the darkest wizards to ever exist and flirted with the dark side. Snape, a Slytherin through and through, loved so deeply his whole life orbited around the son of the woman he loved with a man he hated. Draco was a brat at the beginning and had redemption. Cedric was chosen to be Hogwarts' champion at the Triwizard Tournament even though his house wasn't known as "the bravest". Helena Ravenclaw, gave the location of the diadem to Tom Riddle because her emotions got over her mind, even though she was supposed to be smart about everything.  
> People are not one quality or two. There are many layers, people change, life changes us and our personalities. And yes, I realize this argument can be made the other way around to make me see her as a Hufflepuff from the start, but I don't care. It's my opinion and I'm sticking with it. 

 

**#**

**Before**

**#**

Juvia Lockser looked out of the window and saw the raindrops get thicker and she sighed, knowing she would be blamed for it and she could almost hear the children calling her Ameonna. It was just a coincidence that every time she got sad, it started to rain, but the others didn’t think so.

Having heard about a story of an old Japanese neighbor, Juvia started to sew Teru Teru Bozu dolls; the legend said that after sewing one, it was supposed to bring nice weather and all Juvia wanted was to do so; the other children from the orphanage hated when it was raining and couldn’t play outside, meaning they got even meaner with her. Funny, though, that every time she finished one, the weather got better.

Juvia had, roughly, fifty Teru Teru Bozu dolls hidden away in a trunk under her bed; but she was taking her time with the one she was currently making, it was close to her birthday and she would give herself a pretty doll to be with her all the time; maybe as a talisman so she didn’t have to sew more of them when it rained.

A knock on the door made Juvia look up from her work and saw the Headmistress Sullivan there – she was a good enough woman but couldn’t give attention to all children. Her hair was dark red, eyes as green as the grass during the spring and she already had lines on her face.

“Juvia? There’s someone here to see you.” The Headmistress told her and a tall thin man stepped into Juvia’s line of vision and she was sure she never saw that man before in her life. “He’s a teacher from a very nice school and he said he was impressed with your grades. He wants to talk to you about going to that school. Is it okay if he comes in?”

Still a bit stunned since no one ever visited her, Juvia nodded and the man stepped inside, offering a smile to the Headmistress. “Thank you, Miss Sullivan.” The red-haired woman nodded and left the room, leaving it half-closed. The man looked around for a bit, seeing the two bunk beds and the small wardrobe she shared with three other girls. The man sat on the bed next to where Juvia was, he was so tall the bed looked tiny. “Hello, Juvia. My name is Jose Porla.” He smiled, but his eyes didn’t seem too happy. His face was long, he had a pointy chin and a thick pointy moustache as well, his eyes were the blackest she had ever seen. His hat was weird too, and so were the rest of his clothes. When she didn’t say anything, his smiled faltered a little and decided to ask something else. “What are you sewing?”

Not many people took interest in what she was doing so it took her a moment for her to answer, in a small whisper. “It’s a Teru Teru Bozu doll.”

He frowned. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what it is.”

“When it’s finished, it stops the rain.” She clarified and looked outside the window, where the rain still fell, less heavily but still there. “Juvia has done it before. It helps.”

“Are you-” Jose sounded confused and looked that way too when Juvia returned her attention to him. “Are you telling me you are the one who is making rain? And the doll makes it stop?”

Wide eyed with her revelation at how strange it must’ve been to him to hear her say those words, Juvia paled and shook her head, her blue curls bouncing. “No.”

Jose studied her for a moment and it was strange because he didn’t seem to think she was crazy. “Juvia, can you do things other kids can’t? Aside from the rain?” She looked at him in suspicion. “I’m not gonna tell. I’m quite interested in special kids like you.”

“Special?” She tilted her head to the side, curious.

“Oh, my dear. An unconscious weather change charm in such a young age and with no training? Now _that_ ’s a marvel.” Jose perked up truly that time. “While other kids can levitate a few things, make glass disappear, you changed the _weather_. You are already powerful.”

“Powerful?” She was confused.

“You, my dear, are a witch.” Jose informed her.

“A… witch?” Juvia repeated, more confused than before. “But witches do not-”

Jose took a small stick from the inside pocket of his coat, aimed at the almost-finished Bozu doll and with a small movement, he whispered the words. “ _Piertotum Locomotor._ ” Then, the most amazing thing Juvia had ever seen, happened.

The doll started to float around, the rags under its ‘head’ moved like jellyfish underwater, and the Bozu doll seemed happy to see her, because it dove in her way and affectionately rubbed its head on her cheek, making her giggle even as surprised as she was.

“How did you-?” Juvia asked, scratching the doll’s head.

“I am a Wizard.” Jose stated. “Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry sent me here, Juvia, for _you_. Because you are one of us and you have a spot there, to learn how to be the best witch you can be.” Jose leaned, his elbows resting on his thighs, looking at her. “And you, my dear. I see now how much power you have and while in Hogwarts, power will make people _like_ you. Everyone will want to be as powerful.”

“Will they like Juvia?” She asked in surprise.

“If you are a good witch, if you show them how powerful you are? My dear, people will _worship_ you.” His smile was predatory. “You have the world in your hands now, you could do anything you want to.”

“Juvia wouldn’t be a freak there?”

“No. Everyone there would be just like you.” He told her.

A place she wouldn’t feel put aside. A place she could understand what happened inside her. Sadness hit her, though, when she realized it would never happen. “Juvia would love to go, but she has no money. Headmistress-”

“No money needed.” Jose informed her and Juvia’s eyes widened. “We have funds for this situation. You will have to wear some old robes and use old books, but it will be taken care of.”

“It will?” She gasped, hoping spreading through her chest.

“Yes.” Jose nodded. “If you want to, Hogwarts will have its door opened for you.”

“Juvia…” She looked to her Bozu doll, still floating around, and then back at Jose. “Juvia thinks she will love to go there.”

“Excellent!” Jose was very proud of himself. With a move of his wand, the Bozu doll stopped to move and fell back on Juvia’s thighs. “Now let me tell you about Diagon Alley and where should you get your wand.”

And then it started Juvia’s life at the Wizardry world.

**#**

**First Year**

**#**

Juvia boarded the Hogwarts Express and even then she was sure she was having a dream. But no, there she was, going to a magic school! She even had her own wand to prove that she was indeed a witch. A woman from the Ministry of Magic (who knew they had a Ministry!) came to the orphanage to take her to Diagon Alley, a place Juvia couldn’t have imagined in a hundred years.

Lots of people wearing different types of clothes, funny hats and talking about potions. If she hadn’t seen with her own eyes, she’d never have believed it.

After they went to get the old uniforms donated for those who couldn’t afford, the woman took her to a place called Ollivanders, where a man with the same name as the store, looked her up and down and ran to the back of the store, bringing a case with him.

“Try it out.” He gave her a wand, but a second later, he took it from her. “No, this won’t do.” He brought another and his reaction was the same a couple of times more until he narrowed his eyes at her. “Perhaps…” And ran off to the back again.

Juvia glanced to the Ministry woman, who just smiled patiently, and Juvia relaxed a bit more knowing she wasn’t doing anything wrong.

“Here.” The old man Ollivander said, opening a box. “I’ve had this one for decades. Never been used.” Juvia looked at it and it was light brown, with some beautiful engraved five-petal flowers by the end of it. “Hazel wood, ten and a half inches, flexible and with unicorn’s hair as a core. A _stunning_ combination just waiting for its perfect owner.” He looked down and then up to Juvia. “Go on. Try it.”

Suddenly nervous, Juvia picked the wand and the moment her hand surrounded its base, she could feel every cell in her body to shake, to connect with it in the most primal way she knew. That wand was hers. Or better yet, she was the wand’s.

“ _Oh, beautiful_.” Ollivander smiled. “That was beautiful, my dear. I think she chose you.” Juvia couldn’t help it but to smile at his words. “This wand will be an extension of you. She will react to your emotions, and she will work her best when you know and can manage your own feelings. With the unicorn hair in its core, this wand will make you exceptional and she bonded with you.”

Juvia had never had a thing of her own before, they were always second-handed… but now she had her own wand.

With her day dreaming, she didn’t realize she had arrived at the last wagon and, like the others, they were all full, except for one with just one boy inside. Juvia looked around and she thought she rather be with him other than with other five people she didn’t know.

When she came in, she whispered an ‘excuse me’ and the boy looked her way. His hair was black, short, eyes a bit droppy and red like blood. He seemed about her age.

“Leave.” He said, rude.

Juvia blinked, surprised. “Excuse me?”

“I said, _leave_.” His tone was mean. “I want to be alone.”

“There’s no other place for Juvia to go. The train is full.” She informed him.

“Not my problem, is there?” He snarled and Juvia remembered the wounded dog she had rescued back at the orphanage. He didn’t let anyone get closer because he was hurt, kept barking. Until he became hungry and noticed she wasn’t there to harm him, but to help. They became friends after the noticed Juvia was nice. Sadly, to her, but good for him, its owners appeared a week later after restlessly searching for him. Juvia had cried for a week, and for the whole week, it rained.

“Juvia is not leaving.” She shrugged.

The boy got up from his seat and stood in front of her, eyes wild and clearly angry. “Leave.”

“No.” Juvia stood her ground.

“I’m going to put a spell on you that will make your skin get furunculous for a week.” He threatened.

It actually scared her a bit, but she didn’t let it show. “Oh, okay.” She shrugged, moved around him and sat on the opposite side of his seat, next to the window.

Blinking in confusion with her reaction, he turned to look at her. “I mean it.”

“Juvia is sure you do.” She nodded. “But you are wearing the same type of clothes Juvia is, we seem about the same age and Juvia’s just got into her first year. She really doubts you can cast a spell yet.”

The boy blinked a couple of times before groaning in annoyance, returning to his seat, arms crossed over his chest and pouting like one of the five-year-old’s back at the orphanage. Well, she had always been good with the kids and he sure was one.

“My name is Juvia, by the way. Juvia Lockser.” She offered her hand and he ignored her. She sighed and lowered her hand. “You know, Juvia could talk the whole trip there until we get there. She’s sure you would appreciate that over silence.” He finally looked her way. “Isn’t it right?”

“Oh, god.” He moaned in annoyance. “Fine, fine. Gajeel Redfox. Happy now?”

“Nice meeting you, Gajeel-kun.” She beamed at him. She had met someone already! “So, how excited are you to-”

Gajeel pointed her way with an accusatory finger. “Hey, you said you would be quiet if I told you my name!”

“No, she just wondered if you would appreciate silence or not.” The blunette shrugged and she could see his mind working behind his red eyes, going through her words. She smiled sweetly at him when she saw his face get red once he realized.

“You little…”

“So, Hogwarts, huh? What is it like, you reckon?”

**#**

The path to the Castle had been very dark, but Juvia wasn’t afraid. There was a large man leading them, she heard his name was Reedus and he had a lantern and the moment they entered the small boats and they had the first look at the Castle, her breath was taken away. It was the most amazing sigh she’s ever had.

Then she looked down to the water and saw lights down there as well and she was fascinated with it, glancing between both sights.

Getting inside the Castle and the Great Hall was another thing she would never forget. How could she look up and see the sky? And there were so many people at the tables already.

The Headmaster, Makarov Dreyar said his welcome and told them the shabby hat that was atop of a small wooden chair would select them in different Houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin.

Suddenly, she became nervous. What would it do? How could a hat sort people into the Houses?

“Don’t be a crybaby now.” She heard a voice she recognized and when she looked over her shoulder, she saw it was Gajeel behind her.

“Juvia is _not_.” She held her chin up.

“Good.”

As the names were called, she understood that the Hat talked and yelled the name of the House the student had been sorted in. It should be easy enough, she guessed.

“Juvia Lockser.”

Gulping, Juvia stepped closer to the chair and the Hat was put on her head. She thought it would be quick like the others had been, and she almost jumped when she heard a low voice in her ear.

_“Hmmm.”_ It said. " _Oh, I see that you are kind even to those who others might think don’t deserve. And you are brave, loyal and with a thirst of knowledge. But you are also ambitious, clever and so very resourceful. And, oh… look at that_ power _._ _Hmmm, yet you are afraid. Afraid of your own power, afraid of what you can do. Afraid of_ yourself _. Yes, you are powerful, I can feel it. I can see the possibilities, so many possibilies. Even so you are afraid you won't fit in even here. I could sort you to a certain House, but... Should I? You would settle there and you_ mustn't _settle, oh wait... you don't_ want _to settle. Oh, I see it now. It took me a moment. Behind all that fear, you_ like _being powerful, but you are afraid of exploring it. You want to explore it; you don't want to be afraid of it anymore, you want to be good at it. I see, I see it now. I don't get many like you, child, but I can recognize them: one House now, another later on. Accept yourself as you are as you change. You'll_ do _and_ be _good there.”_ And then, with a loud voice, it said: _“_ Slytherin!"

Juvia heard the table by the corner, the one with a dark green banner with a snake on it, cheer with her nomination to go there. She smiled, already happy and she went to the table where there were places reserved for the first years.

She couldn’t be happier when she heard Gajeel’s name and a moment later, the Hat had placed him on Slytherin as well. He sat next to her and she beamed at him.

“We got sorted into the same house!”

“Yeah, great.” He rolled his eyes. “Are you going to annoy me like today all the time?”

“You are the only person Juvia knows so far.” She shrugged. “So she’s going to say yes.” He sighed, but didn’t complain anymore.

**#**

Even though she was amongst people like her, magical, Juvia still was considered less because of her birth. Since no one knew who her parents were, she was considered a mudblood, a Muggle (or regular person) who turned out to be magical. And in Slytherin, the purebloods ruled.

Gajeel was a half-blood, so he got picked on less than she did, but the name calling got to her every time. Couldn’t they see she was as every bit of a witch as they were? She got into Hogwarts as well, didn’t she? Gajeel often told her to just let those bullies speak and do not give a damn or fight.

To get away from it, she got used to go to the shores of the Black Lake to be alone. Sometimes Gajeel joined her and they practiced some Charms or Transfigurations they had learned (or some Juvia found on books at the library); they were getting quite good, making a game out of it. She was certain she was Gajeel’s first friend (even when he scowled, which was a lot, at her) and truth be told, he was hers. Juvia’s wand was exceptional and she didn’t know she could love an inanimate object so much as she did her wand.

One day, though, on her fifth month at Hogwarts, some older bullies appeared by the shore and started calling her mudblood, that she should leave, Slytherin wasn’t her place. They didn’t harm her, not really, just pushed her around until one of them grab her wand, sneered at her and threw it at the Lake.

“No!” Juvia had yelled and the boys laughed when she ran right into the water. She knew she wasn’t supposed to, she knew it was dangerous and she could get her wand another way, but she couldn’t lose it. Not her wand. “No, no, no.” She whispered, looking around, water on her waist but the water was so turve she couldn’t see much from above and she was crying in despair. “Please, no.” And then it started to rain. She hadn’t made it rain in a long time.

Juvia dove in, thankfully she had learnt so swim, and even with the terrible visibility, she could see the bottom of the lake, could see the stones, but not her wand. She came up for air and then dove back in.

If asked, Juvia wouldn’t know how many times she dove in, but she wasn’t going to give up even if she was getting blue with the cold, her skin seemed as if needles were entering her skin slowly, she was shivering. But she wouldn’t give up. That wand was hers.

She almost yelled underwater when, on her last dive, she saw a humanoid form coming close to her. Getting closer, she could see the skin was greyish, long and wild green hair, yellow eyes. She watched as it came just a few feet away from her.

“ _Foolish human child_.” Juvia heard perfectly fine the creature say and she could see the crooked yellow teeth. Its voice was actually sweet to listen to. “ _In the water for so long.”_ She saw the merperson offer her something and after a second, she realized it was her wand.

“Oh!” Juvia said underwater and realized she needed more air. She went up and returned as soon as her lungs were filled again, thankfully the merperson was coming up as well and Juvia could take deeper breaths. It stayed underwater, but Juvia could still see it. She was offered the wand and the blunette took it, crying in happiness. “Thank you.” She said above the water, a few tears falling from her eyes. “Thank you so much.”

The merperson gave her what looks like a smile and Juvia dove in again and repeated the words, just to make sure it knew how much it meant to her to have her wand back. “Thank you.” Bubbles came out from her mouth as she tried to speak.

“ _You are welcome._ ” It bowed her head. “ _Don’t let those humans do that again. You are stronger than that._ ”

“Yes.” She answered, bubbles of air coming up from her mouth.

“ _Now go. You are cold_.” And with that, it turned around and with a few movements from its tail, it was gone and Juvia came up for air.

**#**

 She had to stay overnight at the infirmary after the incident, having developed the beginning of hypothermia and the nurse didn’t want to take any chances and after warming her up, gave her a sleeping potion and pulling the curtain of her bay to give her privacy.

It had almost kicked in when she heard people being brought into the infirmary and she vaguely recognized the voices.

“I can’t believe I let you convince me to take a broom to fly around the castle, Natsu!” She heard a boy say and then a groan. “You _know_ you get sick!”

“I thought I was better!” A second male voice said and she recognized as Natsu Dragneel, first year as well, Gryffindor student. “I didn’t know I was going to _crash_ , Gray!” Oh, so the other voice was from Gray Fullbuster, another Gryffindor their year.

“And not only you did, but _brought me down with you_!” It was Gray’s voice and he sounded angry.

“You two are _idiots_!” She heard a female voice and she instantly recognized as Lucy Heartfilia, seeing she loved to answer the teachers’ questions during class. “You could’ve been _killed_! You are lucky it was only your arm, Natsu, and your leg, Gray.”

“How is that luck?” Gray asked, annoyed.

“It’s not your _neck_! _That_ is luck!”

“ _Be quiet_!” The voice of Polyuska, teacher of Potions and Nurse echoed throughout the infirmary. “Mr. Dragneel and Mr. Fullbuster are not the only ones here!” She hissed. “I’m going to get the potion to heal your bones. _Behave_.”

“Oh, right.” Lucy said, softly after a moment and Juvia was almost closing her eyes, the potion too strong to fight. “Juvia is here.” The boys mustn’t have known whom she was speaking of because Lucy’s next words were: “Juvia Lockser? Our year, blue hair, a bit taller than me, Slytherin, best friends with Gajeel Redfox?”

“Oh, _her_!” Natsu said. “What’s she’s in for?”

“I heard some Slytherins called her names and threw her wand at the Black Lake. She went after it and developed hypothermia.”

“Wow.” It was Gray’s voice. “Aren’t they on the same house and they bully each other? That’s screwed up. I know we are not supposed to _like_ Slytherins or whatever, but going into the Lake was a bold move.” There were murmurs of agreement. “Did she get it back? Her wand?”

“I guess we’ll know tomorrow in class.” It was the last thing Juvia heard before blackness surrounded her.

**#**

As expected, Gajeel had been seriously pissed about what happened to Juvia and wanted to go after the people who had bullied her but she told him no. She wasn’t going to get revenge. She didn’t like revenge, but she _was_ going to prepare herself.

So, for weeks, both her and Gajeel trained whenever they could. Their spells and hexes were limited at classes, but just a few trips to the library and they had a lot more to work with. They were no longer tolerating the bullying, not theirs and not anyone else’s.

Just a couple of weeks before their first year was over, the guys who had harassed Juvia tried to get funny again with them, calling her mudblood and Gajeel a filthy half-blood, the duo decided to act, by drawing their wands.

Surprised, the older students tried to get theirs, but one was too slow and Juvia was quick to get her wand to shout “ _Petrificus Totalus_ ” and then turned to the other and yelled “ _Expelliarmus_ ”, so his wand flew a few feet away from him and she repeated the Petrificus Totalus charm on the the second boy. Meanwhile Gajeel Stupefied the other two, grinning when he kicked their wands away from them, just in case.

“We are _not_ inferior to you.” Juvia said to them, serious, Gajeel by her side. They had become friends in her opinion (he thought she was a frequent pest in his life he just didn’t fight with anymore).  “Every time _anyone_ say that we are, we _will_ fight back.” Students watched wide eyed as the young duo stood there. Not _ever_ a couple of first-years took on older students. “And we _know_ how to fight back.”

“Not bad for a couple of first-years dirty bloods, right?” Gajeel sneered. “Trust us, there’s more from where that came from.”

“ _Miss Lockser and Mr Redfox_!” They heard a loud voice say and cringed – Jose Porla was Head of Slytherin was just a few feet away and if he saw their little duel, they would be in trouble. “My office, _now_.” Okay, he had seen it and he sounded angry. “And someone take those four to the infirmary. Honestly, being attacked by two first-years and _lose_. That’s _shameful_.” He turned around and his cape flared dramatically and the two students knew it was their cue to follow the Professor.

Juvia and Gajeel stepped inside the office and, weirdly enough, Professor Porla wasn’t angry anymore, he just looked at them for a long moment before speaking.

“You are first-years.” He said slowly. “You barely know any spells, any charms and are in no way qualified for a fight, yet… There you were.”

Jose had been the man who had told her she was a witch, that she could come to Hogwarts and become her true self, and there she was, disappointing him.

“They called us-” Gajeel snarled but the older man cur him off.

“Yes, yes, yes. I know what they call you. Mudblood, Dirty blood, I can’t keep up with all that.” He waved the cuss words away. “They will have their punishment, and so will you. One month polishing the trophies at the trophy room will do fine, I guess.” Juvia didn’t mind, but Gajeel thought it was boring and groaned. “And, of course, minus ten points from Slyhterin from each.”

At that even Juvia let out a sound of disappointment. Their first year was almost ending and Slytherin was almost at the top that year and every point counted, of course.

“But you two…. I’ve seen you down by the lake, practicing, getting better when others were doing something else.” Juvia looked Gajeel’s way and just like her, he seemed confused: were they in trouble or not? “You see, every year I take the most prominent students and promote a bit of a… _secret_ Duelling club, to help them get to their full potential. And the two of you… I’ve watched you, during classes, going down to the shore of the Black Lake to practice. You are my best students.”

“We are? Gajeel raised an eyebrow in question – he wasn’t exactly the best on tests.

“Tests, my boy, come in many ways. As it happens, you are quick with a wand in your hand, quick to decide the most effective spells while Miss Lockser” Jose looked her way “sees the situation as a whole and acts accordingly. She saw Mr. Jones wasn’t going to get his wand in time and decided to eliminate his threat already, knowing that disarming Mr. Hull would be easier because he wasn’t expecting that.”

Juvia never thought of it that way, she just acted the best way she thought was possible, but since the Professor mentioned…

“My proposition is that I want for you to join my little club this year. I already have two more and after seeing your little duel today, the fire inside you, the power of two first years who haven’t even been trained by a teacher at fighting? Both of you will be exquisite. With my care, you’ll be unstoppable.”

“You mean… we get to know how to fight?” Gajeel asked.

“The best way I can teach you.”

“Why?” Juvia frowned. “We shouldn’t need to learn how to fight. The war ended ten yeas ago.”

“Oh, it did, didn’t it?” Jose’s smile sent shivers down Juvia’s spine. “We never know, my dear. We never know what lies ahead and how prepare we should be.” Th blunette was still hesitant. “Let me get it this way, people will look up to you, at how a muggle-born came to be just so natural in things some pure-bloods just dream of being. Because you are a natural. Both of you.”

Juvia looked Gajeel’s way and saw his eyes determined and she knew he already made his decision and she couldn’t let him go on his own, she needed to protect him. Even though he was taller and stronger than her, it didn’t mean he didn’t need protection, just a different kind and she was it.

 “When and where?” Juvia asked and Jose grinned, pleased.

“Very good choice, my dear. I knew I had chosen well.” After a small talk about where their meetings would occur and to not utter a word of it to anyone, they were free to go and told not to forget their detention that night, of course.

Gajeel and Juvia were walking around for a few moments before he looked her way and asked, stunned: “Did you realize we just got into an underground fight club?”

 


	2. Fourth Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a time-skip from their first year to the third/fourth, after all, they are grown up in canon so it’s easier to go down that path.

 

The looks started when she returned to Hogwarts for her third year there and she thought it was strange: she was the same Juvia as always. Ever since she and her friends started to be tutored by Professor Porla, their skills got so much better in such a small amount of time, their little group became known as Element Four, since each of them had a very distinctive magic signature.

Hers, was water.

After trying very hard to ignore it, Juvia embraced herself. She was the best with water-related charms and spells. Professor Porla told her she should be proud of it, proud of being powerful enough to have such a strong connection with an element. The other three, Totomaru, Sol and Aria were also her year and they connected strongly with fire, earth and air; hence their nickname.

Gajeel, though, Gajeel built a name for himself in a way neither ever thought was possible. He was ruthless while battling, even her. In his mind, to have people’s respect, he’d have to be the best, the strongest, to make sure people knew his “dirty” blood didn’t make him any less of a wizard. Juvia suspected he had problems about his heritage while growing up and that was why he was so keen into showing his skills; she never askes, though. He’d tell her when he was ready.

He was letting his hair grow, though, it was already on his shoulders and it somehow made him look even scarier to others, to Juvia, he was still her Gajeel-kun.

The looks, though, became different from admiration the first and second years students threw at them; the older students were aware if hem and she was confused until Gajeel, during one late night at the Slytherin Common Room said: “It’s your boobs. Guys are looking, girls are jealous. That’s why the looks changed.”

“What?” She put her arms over her chest even though she was perfectly clothed.

“You’ve got big boobs now.” Gajeel shrugged, not an ounce of delicacy in his body. “Last year they were regular, but now they are _big._ ”

“And you noticed _that_?” Juvia was appalled.

“Men notice boobs, Juvia, no matter whose. Trust me, I wish I didn’t notice yours.” He made a disgusted face. “You are… _you_. You are a guy to me, a buddy.”

“A guy with boobs.” She tried to understand.

“It’s complicated. _You are you_ , but you _do_ have all the developing or whatever going on and guys notice, no matter how much we tried not to.”

She looked down to her covered chest. “So… the looks are…”

“Guys filled with hormones having nasty thoughts.” Gajeel shrugged. “Some girls have them too, others get jealous.”

“Gajeel-kun!” She pulled her robe closer to herself, surprised, even though it was already closed.

“ _What_? _I_ don’t have them about you, go yell at _them_.” He snorted. “You do have a nice rack, though.”

“Oh, thank you. That’s good to know.” Juvia rolled her eyes. “Are all men perverts like that? Enjoying big breasts?”

“Nah.” Gajeel told her with a shrug. “Everyone has a preference, but honestly? Men are pretty simple: we like boobs in general. Small, medium, large. If he’s allowed to touch it, he’s going to like it.”

The blunette groaned. “Men are disgusting.”

“Pretty much.” Gajeel laughed. “Oh, and I think some of the guys are finally getting enough confidence to ask you out. We can go to Hogsmeade this year, so people will start dating schemes and all that crap.” He looked her way. “Just don’t date a shitty guy and come to cry to me about it.”

“Juvia isn’t interested in dating at all.” She sighed. “All she wants to do is be a good student and afterwards, get a job at the Ministry.”

“ _Sure_.” She had no idea why he didn’t sound convinced.

The moment Juvia got back into her dorm room, she made sure to use her wand to make her shirts larger at the breast area just to not draw more attention to them, and for good measure, she always wore her Hogwarts robe closed up to her neck, unlike most. She hated feeling exposed

At the beginning of her fourth year, she met Bora.

Her fourteenth birthday had just passed when he approached her, all smiles and charm. He was in his sixth year and for some reason, he started hitting on her.

At first, she didn’t give him any attention, the same she had made with all the other boys who tried to ask her to Hogsmeade. She thought some of them were cute, sure, but they all seemed afraid of her even after asking her out and she would not go out with someone who would look at her as if she was going to drown them.

But she was so charmed by Bora, by his advances that yes, she accepted going to Hogsmeade with him the next weekend. Gajeel rolled his eyes during the whole time, whenever she freaked out and was always a few steps behind whenever Bora and Juvia met on the hallway to go to their other class.

Juvia asked her friend if he liked Bora, Gajeel just shrugged and told her it was her boyfriend, not his.

At the end of their first date when they were on their way back to Hogwarts, Juvia was kissed for the first time. There were some butterflies inside her stomach, but the kiss was a bit strange, a bit _too wet_. She knew that could happen and just enjoyed the moment.

Blushing, she accepted when he asked her out again.

Thankfully the kissing turned out to be good after a few weeks so she was finally able to enjoy it. When she was young, she wanted a family and friends but in her innocent mind, she never thought of boyfriends.

She liked having a boyfriend, especially a handsome one like Bora. It seemed people looked at her as if she were more human than a dueling machine.

Everything was fine between them until Bora started to put his hands on her butt or trying to slid his hand up her skirt. Juvia didn’t feel right to have that done yet, she didn’t feel like doing that at all. She liked kissing him and his hands were insistent until she got upset and a small cloud appeared over them and made it rain, startling him.

It sure would make it stop at the moment but a few days later he’d try again and the rain would appear over them one more time. He was getting really frustrated, even when she explained why: she wasn’t ready for him to touch her that way yet; the magic was involuntary when she was upset, always had been.

The relationship lasted three months.

One day after classes were done, they were making out in a somewhat secluded area of the castle when Bora’s hand slid from her thigh to underneath her skirt and Juvia pushed it away. He tried it again and as usual, it started raining on top of them.

“I can’t do this anymore.” Bora released her way too roughly and took a few steps away from the small cloud atop of Juvia. “I can’t touch you anywhere because it starts to rain!” He got his wand and dried his clothes with a spell. “And I would like to touch my girlfriend.”

“And you can!” She said, desperately trying to calm him down, she liked him and she liked to be liked back. “Kissing is fine, it’s just that Juvia isn’t prepared to go any further than that and-”

“Well, _I_ am.” He told her. “And if you are not, then we are not on the same page about this. We should break up.”

Being left behind while the other kids played outside flashed in her mind, all the time she was rejected because they were sure she was going to make it rain any time and now… he was rejecting her for that same reason.

“No.” She whispered. She hated rejection, she would do anything not to- “Please, no. We... We could try again to-”

“No.” His tone was decisive. “Nothing I planned with you worked out. Everyone knows whoever Professor Porla picks, is elite and I knew it was a long-shot but you weren’t even able to suggest me getting into the Duel Team, but at least you were hot. You couldn’t give me even _that_.”

Juvia could hear her heart shattering. Not that she thought she’d grow up and marry him, but she still liked him, liked to spend time with him and he was saying he used her…?

“What?” She whispered.

“We are breaking up. Good luck finding a guy who won’t mind getting soaked to the bone while touching you.” He started to walk away. “Good-bye, Juvia.”

The witch just stood in place for a few moments the little cloud making rain very hard around her. Hearing footsteps coming her way, Juvia saw a male’s restroom close by and without even asking, she got inside: she didn’t need anyone asking her what happened. Thankfully it was empty, so she locked herself in one of the stalls, pulled the toilet lid down, sat and just cried.

Professor Porla said she was going to be happy there, that she would find people who liked her power, who’d appreciate her and besides her little group, everyone was afraid was of her, and her boy- well, her ex-boyfriend just broke up with her for being too powerful and couldn’t control her magic, since his schemes didn’t work.

She was _lied_ to.

Juvia sobbed more and more, rain falling inside the stall and as weird as it sound, it comforted her a bit, it was what she was familiar with.

“Uh… is everything alright in there?” She heard a deep male voice and she almost jumped from her seat from outside her stall. “There’s a trail of water coming this way and now I can see why.” The cloud stood higher.

“I’m fine.” She sniffled.

“Oh.” He sounded surprised. “You… you are a girl. At first I thought someone had wet himself and had come this way but then I heard crying and saw the cloud and I knew it wasn’t that.”

“I’m fine. I’ll… be gone soon and clean the water up too.” She sniffled again. “Don’t worry.”

“Okay.” The boy sounded hesitant and Juvia actually heard he take a few steps away before he returned to the front of her stall. “I’m sorry, I can’t leave you like this. My foster mother would kill me and so would my friends and I wouldn’t be too happy with myself either.”

“That’s sweet but you can go. Juvia is fine.” She sobbed the last word.

“Sure you are.” He was clearly uncomfortable. “So what was it? Failed a class?” She didn’t answer so he kept going every time he didn’t get a reaction from her. “Fought with a friend? Made a Professor angry? Lost too many points for your House? Boyfriend issues?” She sobbed. “Oh, so it was the boyfriend.”

“He broke up with me.” She sobbed and the rain poured harder. “Because every time he wanted to go further, I got upset and it rained.”

The boy stayed in silence for a moment. “Then he is a bloody _moron_! Be glad you got yourself ridden of him!” He almost growled. “Everyone knows there’s time for everything, including… you know.” She felt her own cheeks get warmer Man, when my female friends said all boys were idiots I didn’t believe. Now I do.”

Juvia actually chuckled at that and the rain became lighter. “Not _every_ boy. You seem nice.”

He actually chuckled. “Give it time. I’ll be an idiot too, just in a different subject. I’ll probably fight my best friend over the last piece of whatever’s on the menu for dinner tonight.”

“You know they refill those, right?” She was feeling slightly better.

“I know that, _that’s_ what makes me an idiot.” Juvia laughed and the rain stopped altogether. “Oh! There you go! It stopped.”

“It did.” She blinked in surprise. Juvia always had trouble stopping the rain, and she was still upset but somehow that unknown boy had made it stop with just a couple of jokes with her, taking her mind out of it. “Thank you for that.”

“Sure.” His voice was already far away – he was heading out, apparently. “Now that you are feeling better, I’ll leave you alone to recompose yourself. Just remember to check when you leave the stall. This is a boy’s restroom after all. Bye.”

Juvia opened the door to try to try to catch who had helped her and all she could see was a glimpse of a very messy dark hair. Finding out who that was could be a challenge, all the boys changed voices because of puberty and she hadn’t figured out them all out yet, but she knew the voice, just wasn’t sure of where. But she would find him and thank him properly.

She returned to the stall to dry herself, thinking about the nice boy with dark hair.

**#**

Thankfully it had happened in a Friday afternoon and she had the weekend to cry a few more times after her break up with Bora, but every time a cloud started to form, she thought about that moment with the boy in the bathroom and she’d smile, her Teru Teru Bozu doll floating around her in her section of the bedroom, trying to cheer her up. She had put a spell on it so while in Hogwarts, it would be her pet, since she couldn’t bring anything to the Orphanage while on vacation. She even made it have the same kind of personality as her.

“Yes, yes, Boz.” Juvia chuckled when her doll floated around, her rags moving and it rubbed her head on Juvia’s cheek. “Juvia has you.”

Bora, even though her heart still ached with how thing ended, was on her past. It would hurt for a while but he wasn’t worthy of her, Gajeel said (Juvia was almost sure he hexed Bora with a body full of furunculous that night, though, since Juvia asked for him _not_ to duel with Bora because her ex would pretty much die) and she focused again on her training, on her skills and she returned so ruthless, Professor Porla actually praised her. She was a proud Slytherin, she would become even more powerful now that she was focused.

Her side mission, though, was now to find the boy. Two days after the break up, she started her mission.

First, she thought Hufflepuff. It had to be, right? They were kind. Of course, she couldn’t assume they were on the same year, but she listened closely in class the time Slytherin and Hufflepuff had a class together.

As fate would have it, she and Gajeel were leaving a Charms’ class they shared with Ravenclaw when Juvia started to put her book inside her bag, just outside the classroom when she heard it:

“-he jumped three feet in the air! Like a bloody cat!” A laughter – a laughter she _knew_ , just louder – and her whole body froze. She looked up, searching for whom had spoken and her heart stopped when she saw a trio pass by, a girl with medium blonde hair she recognized as Lucy Heartfilia, a boy with pink hair, who was replying to whatever and the third person, the boy with dark hair she had just recognized the voice from.

Gray Fullbuster, a Gryffindor her year.

 _Everyone_ knew Gray Fullbuster, he was best friends with Natsu Dragneel, The Boy Who Lived. Thirteen years before, when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named tried to kill him while he was still a baby, somehow he managed to survive with just a scar on his neck. Then, no one knew how, but The Dark Wizard He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named vanished and the war was over.

So _that_ was the friend he was going to fight for food.

“Oh.” She breathed and watched as the trio went on their way, laughing. Even though they were on the same year, the Gryffindors and Slytherins barely had any conflicts or interactions, choosing each to be on good terms for a while.

“What is it?” Gajeel asked, looking the direction she saw her looking to see what made her stop.

“Nothing.” She told him with a smile. “Let’s go or we will be late.”

**#**

_“They say she’s half-mermaid.”_

_“No one can be half-mermaid, moron!”_

_“Well, tell me_ why _she goes to the Lake, then!”_

She heard them say and Juvia wanted to laugh at that every time. She became known as “Juvia of the Deep” or “Juvia of the Black Lake” because she was constantly going in there to visit the merpeople colony there. Everyone else was _terrified_ of the Lake while Juvia loved it.

Since her first year, she had met the merperson who retrieved her wand from it a few times before finding a plant that allowed her to breathe underwater and a spell of an air bubble. So she put a warming charming around her (one round of hypothermia was enough for her, thank you very much).

Sassa, that was the merperson whom she befriended, was surprised to see her breathing and speaking but wasn’t too mad about it. She had such a pretty voice while singing, Juvia always felt enchanted. Sassa even introduced Juvia to the Giant Squid that lived there and one of its tentacles gently bumped Juvia before it went on its way.

It became their routine that every Sunday afternoon the would meet and explore, Sassa wasn’t much older than her, she discovered, and had a harsh sense of humor, just like Gajeel. After a couple of months of exploring the Black Lake, Sassa took her to the colony after speaking to the chief. Not many humans were allowed there and neither was she, but she could swim around it and it was fascinating, some other merpeople went to talk and greet her. She was even picking up some mermish and she found a book at the library that taught her just a _tiny bit_ , but with Sassa’s help, she was going well.

“Juvia is strong, like our people.” Sassa would say proudly to her friends. “Only the strong ones become our friends.” And it made Juvia smile.

It was weird how she felt happier underwater with beings from other species than at the castle where she was supposed to be, with her own kind.

Hogwarts was amazing, but her only friend had been Gajeel for four years. The other three from the club were alright but they didn’t spend much time apart from Professor Porla’s training and now people were too afraid to talk to her, seeing she was one of his protégées and everyone knew what that meant: she was skilled.

That Sunday, though, when she came out of the water and saw the four men there, waiting for her, she knew something was going to happen and soon.

With her wand still in hand, like she always had when going into the late, Juvia muttered a spell to dry herself and then to change into her regular clothes and she walked to where Professor Porla, Gajeel, Totomaru, Aria and Sol waited for her.

“How was your swim, my dear?” Porla asked, nicely, but Juvia knew it was just for show.

“Lovely as always.” Juvia glanced at Gajeel who shrugged, knowing she had a lot of questions and he probably didn’t know as well.

“Wonderful.” Jose got up from the stone he was seated while the others were already up. “I think this is the best place for us to talk.” His smile was evil. “I have a mission for you and since you are my best students…”

“A mission?” Totomaru, asked, confused.

“I need to take a girl to her father.” Porla said. “But she’s always surrounded by her friends. What I need is for you to get her to me.”

Juvia frowned. “Why don’t you ask her to go to your office, then?”

Jose’s black eyes focused on Juvia and she felt a shiver down her spine. “Because, my dear, it can’t be connected to me _at all_.”

**#**

“It’s kidnapping.” Juvia whispered to Gajeel as they went back to the castle.

“Professor Jose asked. I don’t think he’s going to do anything bad to her. It’s her _father_.” Gajeel told her, face impassive.

“Really? That doesn’t scream ‘shady’ to you at all?” Juvia asked and they fell behind once they reached the main doors. ““Juvia knows he said it was her father who wanted her back, but that whole story is just crazy! He wants to take a close friend of Natsu Dragneel, which I hear is enamored with her, and this doesn’t seem strange? He was a _Death Eater_!” She whispered the last words.

“He is the guy who has protect and taught us more than any other teacher in this place, Juvia!” Gajeel argued. “Her father asked him to bring his daughter home for some reason and there’s that! There are no more Death Eaters, the war is over and I am going to do this. If you are not, it’s your choice.” Gajeel turned around and his now longer hair moved behind him.

She spent a long time deciding if she was going to help or nor. Should she tell? But like Gajeel said, the war was over, maybe… maybe it wasn’t anything like that at all. Maybe it was about her father after all? The Heartfilias were an old pure-blood family and had some pretty crazy traditions she didn’t know about.

Yes, that must be it.

Juvia didn’t know the blonde woman too well, she just saw her hand get up a lot whenever a teacher asked a question, and she was always with her cluster of friends, Gray Fullbuster included.

For the past few months, she had observed him a lot and she could see he was a nice guy, even got into the Quidditch team that year, and he was very protective of his friends. The green-eyed monster inside her, though, got into rage mode whenever he was with Lucy and she didn’t know why.

Juvia took a deep breath, trying to keep the bad thoughts away. She looked towards where Gajeel had left and she sighed. If she didn’t do it, someone else would and it would be much worse.

Her decision made, Juvia entered Hogwarts.

**#**

Taking the blonde was easy enough. A _Stupefy_ spell when she was leaving the library late and she was unconscious. She and Sol were quietly taking her outside the Castle when their friends noticed something was wrong and all hell broke loose. Jose had put a silent spell around the castle so no one inside could hear a thing. There were many separated fights around it.

And, of course, she ended up facing Gray Fullbuster. The moment she saw him, it started to rain around them; she didn’t want to fight _him_.

“To think that you could defeat two of us.” She told him, wand ready, pose perfect to duel. “However, Juvia and Aria are not to be taken lightly.” She raised her voice so he could hear her over the heavy rain.

He scowled. “Sorry, but it doesn’t matter if you’re a woman or even a child; I don’t go easy on anybody who hurt my friends.”

She hurt more than she thought it could with those words. Who did she have to fight for her like that? Who would care if someone took her? If someone just hurt her right there and then? No one.

Juvia only had herself.

At that moment, she felt so much jealousy of Lucy Heartfilia, she had _it all_ while Juvia had _nothing_ that a something began to bloom in her.

It was a dark, ugly feeling inside her chest she absolutely hated it, but she embraced it. She wanted to be mean once in her lifetime, she wanted to let out her pain in some way, so when she screamed _Stupefy_ and he yelled _Protego_ (which was surprising, it could be a difficult charm) so their duel began.

It went on for a little while and to her surprise, even with his lack of proper form, he was matching her, so it was time for her signature move.

“ _Aguamenti!”_ She yelled and a huge amount of water came out of her wand. That spell was very high up and she wasn’t supposed to know it, so his surprise was genuine when he saw it and he was barely out of its way when it hit the spot he once were.

“Wow.” He breathed and his attention returned to her. “ _Petrificus Totalus!_ ”

Juvia was too fast and ran, so he missed, and she yelled again: “ _Aguamenti!”_ And a huge amount of water came off her wand again.

To her surprise, Gray yelled: “ _Glacius!”_ and the water became ice, falling on the muddy ground.

They held on that way for a while, water against ice until she gave up and before she could say anything else, Gray yelled in succession: “ _Expelliarmus! Stupefy!_ ” Juvia felt her wand come off of her hand and then her world blackened.

**#**

She woke up later that night, at the infirmary, confused. She sat on her bed and heard people talking outside.

“He will come back! He is not dead!” The voice sounded like Professor Porla, but it made no sense; he was always controlled and the tone he was using was almost hysterical.

Juvia’s feet became cold when she walked over to the door, noticing by her peripherical vision that some others bays were occupied. She opened the door and saw Professor Gildarts, Head of Gryffindor and Master Bob Head of Hufflepuff holding Professor Jose plus Headmaster Makarov and Polyuska.

“He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is returning. I was creating his army.” Porla said and Juvia stepped outside the infirmary. Jose’s attention turned to her. “Juvia! Don’t let them turn you!”

Every pair of eyes went to her and Polyuska intervened. “You should be in bed-”

“You were creating an _army_?” Juvia asked, confused and not letting herself be handled by Polyuska. “ _We_ were an _army_?”

“The five of you were my best and I was preparing you to _Him_!” Professor Jose was hysterical. “You have so much potential…”

“Shut it.” Professor Gildarts said, rough. He was their teacher of Charms and was always in a good rough mood of his, but not that night.

“You said… you said you wanted us to be better, you said you were teaching us so we could show the world….” She didn’t even realize she was tearing up until she had to clean her cheeks. “So we could show the world we are powerful and just as much of wizards and witches as any pure-blood!”

“I was making you better to _Him_!”

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was Zeref, the Dark Wizard. So bad and awful people still feared to say his name and many of the current students of Hogwarts became orphans during the war.

There was _no way_ she was going into any army He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named could make, even if he was dead. She would never act in his name.

“Juvia would _never_ had joined you. _Never_!” Juvia said and turned to Headmaster Makarov. “We didn’t know. None of us. We thought he was teaching us because we were the best, so we could reach our full potential, we didn’t-”

“My child.” Makarov said, gently taking her hand. “Go back to bed. We will talk tomorrow.”

“But-”

“Tomorrow.” His voice was soothing and for a moment, she felt safe with his hand on hers like that. She felt two hands on her shoulders and she felt a powder being blown to her face and suddenly she felt very sleep. “Go on now. We’ll speak tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow, alright.” Juvia nodded and she could vaguely hear Jose’s voice, but she was more interested in going to bed, the hands on her shoulders tightly pushing her towards her bay. She recognized Gajeel on the bay next to her (he was unconscious) before Polyuska pulled the curtain.

“Lie down.” Juvia did as told and felt covers being pulled on top of her. “Now sleep.” The old woman left.

Juvia didn’t know exactly why, but she felt tears coming and she sobbed for a few minutes, not caring who heard, before whatever they had blown on her make effect and she fell into a dreamless sleep.

**#**

Being such a good student, Juvia never needed to go to the Headmaster’s office, but there she was, nervous and afraid she was going to be expelled. Makarov was on his desk when she arrived and pointed to a chair in front of his desk for her to seat.

She was so nervous she didn’t look around much, and just did what was told.

“Professor Jose Porla no longer works in Hogwarts. After last night’s attempt of kidnapping, we handed him to the Ministry, and they will try to get as much information about whatever nonsense he was saying about Zeref.” She was surprised to hear him say his name. “Now, Miss Lockser-”

“Is she alright?” Makarov frowned. “Lucy-san. Is she… we didn’t-?”

“Succeed? No. We intervened in time.” Makarov said gently and Juvia felt slightly better. At least she could go home knowing she didn’t help the kidnap go through and the girl was missing. “Now Miss Lockser, I’ve spoken with three others of your little group. They all said the same thing you did last night when you walked out of the infirmary. He never spoke about Zeref, just trained.” Juvia nodded, her curls bounced. “And no prohibited spells?”

“Never.”

“I see.” Makarov stared at her for a moment. “How about Gajeel? Did he-?”

“If he knew anything, was minor.” Juvia said, quick. “Gajeel-kun has a good heart and he was being misguided by Professor Jose. He is… lost. Juvia is helping him. Please, don’t let the Ministry take him away if he knew something. Please, I beg you.”

Makarov was clearly surprised. “No one is going to tell anything to the Ministry, my dear. No major crimes were actually committed and I don’t see bad intentions in any of you. You were just clueless, like we were. Don’t worry about being expelling either.” Juvia felt like she could breathe again; they weren’t taking Hogwarts from her. Oh, thank Merlin. “I just need to know if we are going to have any problems with the Gryffindor students that were there last night. And you’ll understand that we will be keeping a closer eye on you because of what happened, just for a while.”

“Not at all.” Juvia was quick to answer. “And yes, of course.”

“Good.” Makarov smiled. “Then you should go, Miss Lockser.”

“Thank you, sir.” She got up and she turned around to leave but returned. “Please, don’t be too harsh on Gajeel-kun. It takes a while for him to open up, even to me. Let me take care of him.”

“We’ll see.” It was Makarov’s answer to her and she nodded, leaving the Headmaster office. Once she was outside, she went towards the stairs when she heard someone call her name.

It was Gray Fullbuster himself, his Gryffindor tie loose as usual and not wearing his cape, just the standard pants and shirt, even if it was a bit chilly.

“Hey.”

“Hello.” Juvia looked away in shame. “Juvia is sorry for-”

“Don’t sweat it.” Gray told her. “We know you weren’t aware you were kidnapping Lucy. You thought it was her father?”

“It was what we were told, and it ended up being…” She sighed and she felt a headache coming. “It ended up being what it was. This is a mess.”

“Yeah.” He scratched the back of his head. “I just wanted for you to know that there’s no hard feelings, it was a good duel. I was impressed.”

Juvia smiled for the first time in hours. “Juvia was too.”

“Good. Maybe we should do it again some other time.” He winked. “See you around.”

Juvia’s heart was beating so strong inside her chest, she felt her stomach get crazy with butterflies, her hands were sweating and her breathing was shallow.

Oh, boy. That was not good.

Or perhaps it was?

**#**

Gajeel opened his eyes and the moment he looked her direction, she asked how he was and he grunted.

“The old man was here. Apparently we get to stay.” Juvia stayed in silence, just looking at him, expressionless. “I know you told us to not get involved and I didn’t listen-”

“That was _not_ us.” Juvia told him. “We are not _those_ people, we were like that last night but never again, do you understand me? He was trying to do something to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.” And Gajeel cringed, it was the man who had killed his parents. “We choose the _right side_ from now on. We become _us_ again.” Juvia gulped. “We know who we are, and we weren’t us last night.”

“I’m a lost case, Juvia.” He sighed. “I’ve always tried to tell you that I am.”

“No.” She said, vehement. “You are _not_ a lost case because I found you. You and I are going to be there for each other. You are _not_ lost, not if you let me help you.”

Gajeel scoffed. “ _You_ don’t even know where _you_ are going.”

“At least if we get lost, we have each other to lean on to.” She reached for his hand and squeezed it. “You became Juvia’s only family.” She said the words she wanted to say for a while. “So Juvia _knows_ who we are. Do you?”

He looked away, probably embarrassed, but squeezed her hand back and Juvia could weep in happiness. “Yeah, I know who we are. And _what_ to, so stop being all touchy feely with me.”

Juvia laughed and dried the couple of stray tears she let fall. “Hey, do you want to hear about how Juvia is almost certain she has fallen in love with Gray Fullbuster?”

That made Gajeel look her way: “The _Gryffindor_? He was there last night.”

“Yeap.” Juvia smiled.

“Bloody hell, Juvia.” Gajeel sighed. “Only you would bring this mess into your life.” Juvia smiled and started to tell the story since her break up with Bora.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you liked this chapter. Much more Gruvia next chapter, I promise! I hope this chapter wasn’t a disappointment! 


	3. Summer Vacation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is getting longer and longer because of your support! Shame, *uses Septa Unella's bell to follow you aroung*HAH just kidding, I' I hope you enjoy the chapter. :3

The Diagon Alley was as busy as ever when Juvia passed the Madam Malkin's shop and she stopped, took a few steps back and looked at the models on display and she sighed when she saw the price of a particularly beautiful dress she'd love to buy, but she looked down to the money she had and sighed, knowing that year she would, again, only buy the essentials.

Hogwarts was free of charge and provided her with enough material to last her the year, but even so she needed some things to herself, some essentials of her own and that beautiful dress didn't fall into that category.

With a sigh, she was about to say good-bye to the beautiful pink dress when the reflection of someone made her heart stopped.

Juvia looked over her shoulder and a smile bloomed in her lips when she recognized the person as being Gray Fullbuster. He was fishing something from his pocket and once he found it, she recognized as coins and he easily counted them before entering the old establishment of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour; she had been there the year before and the ice creams were wonderful.

She looked down to her purse and checked her own coins – she had just exchanged her own muggle money to the wizard's at Gringotts – and she bit her lower lip. She had been sewing dolls to her neighbors who wanted personalized dolls for their children and mending clothes the entire summer so she could have some money and so far she had been known her priorities regarding the money.

But one ice cream sure wouldn't make much of a difference.

Juvia checked herself in the mirror and she wished she had brought some lipstick with he. Her hair was loose, she was wearing her usual dark-blue coat that hid most of her chest and even if it was end of summer, she didn't mind wearing it at all. She also wore black leggings, dark brown boots and her side purse.

Since she couldn't use magic outside of Hogwarts until she turned seventeen, that was the best she could do.

The blunette crossed the street and entered Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and even though it was a bit crowded, she had no problem finding Gray, he had become quite taller during the summer and he was the last one on the line to the register.

Nervous, but confident, she went to stand behind him at the line and with a burst of courage, she touched his shoulder and asked: "Gray-sama?"

It wasn't until she heard the word "-sama" coming out of her mouth that she blinked in surprised. She didn't even called Bora that.

Gray looked over his shoulders and spotted her. He seemed very surprised to see her there. "Wha-" He asked. "Juvia? What are you doing here?"

She smiled. "Juvia was just across the street at Madam Malkin's shop and she saw you get in; she thought an ice cream was a very good idea."

Surprise replaced by a smile, Gray answered. "They do have the best."

"That they do." She agreed. "So, how was your summer?"

"Same old, same old." Gray shrugged and took a step forward on the line and so did Juvia. "It seems my foster mother just waits for me and my brother to get home to make us fix things around the house. Without magic of course." Juvia chuckled. "Either that or she just breaks stuff the day before we arrive. She says fixing things with our bare hands creates character." He scoffed. "Right. How about your summer?"

"Oh, Juvia was sewing customized dolls to the people in her neighborhood, trying to get some money." She told him and they took another step on the line. "It's not much, but maybe she'll get more requests."

"That's a good idea, if you are good at it." Gray told her. "I have an allowance each begin of school year, but I have to ration that too." He shrugged. "My parents left me some money, but I can only have full access to it when I'm seventeen. I'm on a budget too."

"Not the best feeling in the world."

"Not really." He sighed. "But hey, just two years to go now."

"That's good." It felt so natural to talk to him, the butterflies inside her stomach were still at it, but calmer now. There was something about him... "Are you here on your own?"

"Oh no, Natsu, Lucy and Erza are here too." They took another step, Gray was the next. Erza was a year older than them. "They went to get some other stuff. I'll meet up with them af-" Gray, who was looking at Juvia, looked over her shoulders and his eyes widened.

She was about to turn around when she felt a spell hit her on the back and she was thrown to the side, hitting the counter, making her whole left side hurt.

Juvia was dizzy, trying to gather her thoughts, but if she learned one thing with Jose's little Dueling Club was to not lose her mind no matter what. At the same time she was trying to understand what was happening, she was reaching for her wand inside her jacket – it was never too far from her – and she was glad she was hit on her left side since she knew moving her arm would be difficult.

"You trying to pick a fight?" She heard a voice and it took her a moment to realize she knew it. Gray's. It was Gray-sama's voice.

"Gray Fullbuster if I'm not mistaken." A deeper voice she didn't recognized said. "Where's Erza?"

"What?" Gray asked and Juvia was certain she could move. She started to get up, clumsily, but confident she could at least stall the other man.

"Where is she?" The deeper voice asked again and only then Juvia looked to where the two of them, Gray and a very tall and large man were pointing their wands at each other.

"Who the hell are you?" Gray's question was between gritted teeth.

Juvia, then, with her own wand raised stepped between the two of them. She wasn't supposed to use magic outside school, but her life was being threatened, she was sure they would take that into consideration.

"Juvia won't let you lay a finger on Gray-sama." She told the tall man. "Juvia will be your opponent."

"Juvia..." She heard Gray from behind her.

"Go and find Erza-san." She told him without taking her eyes off their enemy. "She's in danger."

Before Gray could reply, the large man frowned, tilted his head and said to himself. "You've already found her? Oh, is that so? Then.... Mind if I tidy things up on my end?" Juvia's eyes got wide – that was _not_ good.

And then the lights went off.

" _Geminio!"_ She heard Gray say and then another time, and she felt his forearm on her chest, pushing her back behind the counter. She let herself be handled and felt him sit next to her behind the counter, where an old man was also hiding, and shaking.

They heard some havoc and then the door was opened then closed, the darkness gone and they could see.

After a few seconds of silence, Juvia slowly peeked over the counter, even when Gray tried to pull her down – but her gut was telling her the threat was gone. She couldn't see the man anymore and she breathed in relieve and she sat back on the floor next to Gray.

"He's gone." She told him and he sighed in relief, but both tensed when the door was opened again. Juvia looked at Gray and both of them nodded – they could fight if necessary. But then they heard a familiar voice.

"Gray!" It was Lucy Heartfilia's voice and she had screamed. "This can't be true! Hey! Snap out of it!"

With a frown, Juvia got up after Gray, not understanding why Lucy would scream like that until she saw a copy of their bodies on the floor and both her and Gray looked as if they were dead.

"Lucy, calm down!" Gray said and the blonde almost jumped in surprised to see him. "I had to make a duplicate, that guy was trying to kill us. Look, there's not even blood."

"Oh, thank Merlin." Lucy put a hand over her chest in relief and then she got her eyes wide. "They took Erza! We were together, then there was this man, they knew each other and then... they took her! I was tied up, but I could reach my wand and got free. But by then, they apparated."

"Dammit!" Gray cussed. "Where did they take her?"

"I don't know!" Lucy was almost crying at that point. "They talked about a Tower? And Jellal." At the name, Juvia saw Gray tense. "And a rare diamond for a powerful spell? I was trying to get to Erza and we still have to find Natsu-"

As if on cue, Natsu slammed the door opened, he was breathing hard and seemed a bit worse to wear, but other than that, unharmed. "That bastard!"

"Natsu, they took Erza!" Gray told him and the boy's eyes widened. "We don't know where to begin to look for her and the ministry will be here any second, since we are all underage so we need to be fast."

"Dammit!" Natsu punched the doorway.

Juvia, then, gasped. " _Oh!_ " Everyone looked at her. "Juvia knows where they might be." Seeing everyone's eyes on her, she proceeded. " _The Tower of London_! They have an exhibition on the Crown Jewels, there are all types of gems there: rubies, emeralds, sapphires and of course, _diamonds_. Some of them are _very_ rare."

Lucy's eyes widened. "That makes sense! They are going to the Tower!"

Gray seemed more uncertain, but nodded. "That's the best lead we have. Let's go before the ministry arrives and we can't look for her." Gray hesitated. "I... don't think we know how to get there by muggle transportation." He looked to Lucy and Natsu and both nodded, had been brought up by wizard families.

"Juvia knows how to get there." She offered.. "Come on."

**#**

Entering the Tower was relatively easy when done it by the Traitor's Gate and with being a wizard or a witch so they could blow up the first wall without being detected. After Juvia casted a Bubble-Head Charm that allowed each of them to breath underwater for thirty-minutes, they dived into the Thames and swam towards the tower.

Natsu was in charge of making a hole on the wall and being the best with explosive spells, he had done it quite alright. Once everyone was between the wall and the Gate, Lucy casted the _Alohomorra_ spell and it opened effortless. Once they were inside, she closed it once again to not raise suspicions.

They slowly moved towards the stairs, trying to hear if any Beefeater was coming their way and when they saw none, they jumped the fence and Juvia undid the Bubble-Head Charm in all of them.

"That was amazing." Natsu whispered to Juvia. "Good job." Juvia gave him a small smile. "Who are you again?"

"Juvia Lockser, same year as you in Hogwarts." She was amused as she used a drying spell on her clothes and he did the same.

"Oh. Sorry, not too good with name or faces unless I see them all the time." He shrugged and then Gray and Lucy joined them, also already dry. "So, where to, now?"

Juvia was about to speak when some Beefeaters appeared, they seemed as if in a trance until they saw the four young wizards.

Without thinking twice, the four of them stupefied the Beefeaters before any alarms could be rang.

"They looked as if they were controlled by the way they looked." Natsu commented when they got near the fallen Beefeaters. "Right?"

" _Imperius_ curse." Lucy whispered and her eyes got wide. "Maybe they all are under it."

"Bloody hell." Gray said. "Okay, where's the exhibition?" He asked Juvia.

She pointed to a tunnel directly in front of the Traitor's Gate. "If we go through here, we see the White Tower and then after we walk around it, there's a building with the exhibition."

"Wh-What are you guys doing here?" The heard from their side and when they looked that way, there was Erza and she looked baffled.

"Erza!" Lucy exclaimed in happiness while Juvia and Gray sighed in relief.

Natsu got angry, though. "What do you mean? We'd be disgracing Hogwarts if we just backed off and let them walk all over us! And there's no way I'm letting that bastard who took me off guard, go off easily!"

Erza finally noticed Juvia and looked surprised, while Juvia felt absolutely terrified – only a few people managed to make her feel that way, and she knew enough of Erza's dexterity with a wand to fear her. "Um... Juvia is here because... well..."

"Go back." The red-haired woman cut her off and everyone seemed surprised. "You guys shouldn't be here."

"But Erza..." Lucy tried.

"I don't care about this crap." Natsu said, running before anyone could catch him in the direction Juvia had told him to a few moments before.

"Natsu-san!" Juvia called him.

"Hey! Natsu!" Even Erza tried, but he didn't stop.

"That _moron_! Running off on his own!" Gray complained.

Lucy suggested: "Let's follow him!"

Erza stepped in front of them. "You can't. Go back."

"Erza!" Gray protests, but apparently the red haired woman would have none of it.

"I'll take care of Natsu and bring him back. You guys, get away from here right now."

"We can't do that!" Lucy yelled and Juvia admired the woman's guts for yelling at _Erza Scarlet_. They must've been pretty close. "We're _not_ leaving without you!"

"This is my problem. I don't want you guys getting involved." Erza turned her back at them and her voice wasn't much louder than a whisper.

"We're already involved. You saw how Natsu was." Gray tried to sound nonchalant, but Erza said nothing.

"Erza... What is this tower? Who's this Jellal guy?" Lucy asked gently and Juvia watched, amazed. "Though is fine if you don't want to tell us..." Lucy's eyes focused on the ground. "I know you said those guys were your friends before, but _we_ are your friends _now_. We'll always be here for you, Erza." Lucy smiled and Juvia had to fight the urge to just pull Erza towards her friends and run away from that place. Nothing good would come up from that night or whatever diamond they were looking for.

"G-go." Erza said, and Juvia saw she was shaking.

"This isn't like you, Erza. Why can't you just stop saying all this useless stuff and tell _'follow me'_ like you always do?" Gray asked. "We'll help you out. Even _you_ are allowed to be sacred sometimes, you know?"

Juvia felt her own eyes get blurry with tears because it was as if Gray's words were also spoken to her. She remembered Professor Jose telling her to never be afraid, to always be in control of the situation. No one ever told her that it was okay to be scared once in a while. All she ever knew was to always be strong, always be the most powerful witch in the room otherwise she wasn't good enough.

She almost forgot she was human before she was a witch.

It came as no surprise when Erza turned around and she was crying. "In this fight, whether I win or lose, I'll probably die.."

"What?" Lucy asked, shocked.

"Wh-What do you mean?" Even Gray looked taken aback.

"This is an unavoidable future, so...." Erza gasped. "So, while I'm still here, I'll tell you everything I know." She took a breath. "After the War against You-Know-Who, there were many orphans. Most pure-blood like Natsu and half-blood like you, Gray, were placed in Wizard's Orphanages. Some of us were not so lucky." She sighed. "I never told anyone, but they took us to some place where they would run tests on us, tests of how long we would go under pressure until our magic defended us. It was painful, awful. Jellal was there." She smiled with the memory. "He was the one who protected us. Until they took him and put him under the Imperius Curse. His mind was shed into pieces with how much they have been messing with it. He's still being controlled."

"One day, I saw them bring a muggle-born. A boy, no older than seven and I swear to you, they were able to make him a muggle again." Juvia gasped, a hand on her mouth. "That's what they have been doing, trying to find the right ingredient to have more muggle-borns to never have magical abilities. They want to purify our race for You-Know-Who."

Juvia widened her eyes and she certainly got pale, hating to imagine a world where she wasn't a witch, her hand tightened around her wand even more, as if to assure it was still there.

"They found it."

"Yes." Erza looked away. "The Jubilee Diamond was transferred here for a few days. Its size will certainly be enough."

"How will they...?" Lucy tried to ask.

"I don't know." Erza shook her head. "I don't have all the answers. But... I must... I'll stop him, no matter what. In a way, I'll free him."

**#**

"Natsu!" Lucy yelled, followed by Juvia. They learned the Beefeaters were not wizards, so they'd be pretty easy to stupefy. "He should be able to hear us, these halls carry the sounds pretty well!"

"Now that I stop to think about it: why on earth is Juvia searching for Natsu-san together with Lucy-san?" Juvia asked herself aloud.

"Ignoring me, huh?" Lucy got annoyed. "Well, _you_ are the one who pulled me when Gray told us to look for Natsu!"

"Well, Juvia could not disrespect Gray-sama's wishes; but putting me together with my rival in love" to which Lucy repeated it in a high-pitched voice "is he _trying_ to cause a fight?"

"I'm really trying not to get involved in this whole thing, you know." Juvia eyed her with suspicion, she saw how Gray treated her. After the whole kidnapping thing and Juvia realizing she might have been falling in love with Gray Fullbuster, she had watched his interactions and his relationship with Lucy made the ugly green-eyed monster inside her howl in rage. She had never felt like that with Bora. "C-can't we just get along?" Lucy seemed to be frightened by Juvia, which was good. But something caught her attention and she turned to the blonde.

"What _whole thing_?" Juvia asked, curious."

Lucy blinked and turned around to speak to her and was suprised. "Your feelings towards Gray?"

Juvia's cheeks became so hot she was certain they were vermillion. "What?" Her voice was high-pitched.

"Don't worry, it's not _that_ obvious for the boys because they are _clueless_ ," she rolled her brown eyes "but I can see the way you look at him. It's the same way I look to _my_ clueless guy." Lucy sighed. "And you smile a lot around him, touch your hair... you know, all the tells."

Juvia didn't know what to feel about Lucy knowing. It wasn't as if she was ashamed, she was just... afraid. Not of loving him, because that felt pretty good. No, she was afraid of rejection, like she always have.

"Don't-" The blunette whispered. "Don't tell him."

"Never." Lucy smiled. "It's in the girl's code, I can't tell him until he figures it out."

"Girl's code?" She was unfamiliar with it, and she tried to remember a book in Hogwarts with that name.

"Oh, Juvia, we are going to have a _long talk_ about the code now that we are friends." Lucy giggled. "I'll introduce you to the others, they will be glad to see you there."

Lucy took a few steps but Juvia stayed behind, eyes wide because of Lucy's words. Were they friends now? It took her months to be friends with Gajeel and he was her only friend. Could it really be that easy? Did Lucy... like her?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud guitar started to play in the wrong way, making it a terrible noise – at least to Lucy, Juvia seemed to like it. "Wh-What's that noise? A guitar?" Lucy yelled. "Argh, it's so loud!"

"Juvia thinks it's rather good, actually." The blunette shrugged.

"There's really something wrong with you!" Lucy said loud over the music and when she looked with wide eyes to a point behind Juvia. The blunette immediately turned around just to see a pale man with black long hair, tight leather pants and a guitar.

"Hey Yeah!" He yelled, looking like the crazy shit he probably was. "Fuckin' girls! This is my concert of hell." He showed his ridiculous long tongue all the while he played his guitar. "I'm from Skull Order. Hey! We're the skulls! Cool name, ain't it?" Juvia thought it was, but she was not going to let him know that. "Member of Trinity Raven, they call me Vithaldas Taka!" He sang his introduction and suddenly he yelled _'Expelliarmus'_. Juvia shoved Lucy down to the floor and was out of the way when Vithaldas shot in her direction. She immediately yelled the same spell followed by _'Bombarda!'_ and he yelled _'Protego',_ nullifying the charm. "That's a sweet aim you got there, girlie! If I hadn't move, I'd be dead!"

"Good luck, Juvia! I can't handle him!" Lucy yelled from her place, hiding behind a wall, but with her wand in hand.

They dueled for a minute more before Juvia went to hide next to Lucy. She needed a moment to take a breath.

"My, my... we do have a couple of fine ladies here." Juvia could hear him taunt them

"Ahh, not this again!" Lucy whined.

"Wh-What do you mean?" Juvia asked.

The blonde looked at her. "Being cute only ever attracts trouble." And for a moment, they both smiled, until they heard his next words.

"Now-which-one-should-choose?" He sang and Juvia frowned when she imagine what he was doing. "Let's-leave-it-up-to-the-de-vil-in-hell!" Vithaldas laughed. "Well, that's that! You're gonna be my Succubus for today!" Juvia wondered who got picked and what he meant by Succubus. In her distraction, she failed to notice Vithaldas creeping in by the wall.

The next thing she knew was that she grabbed her right hand, took her wand away from her and dodged the punch she threw in his face with her left hand by reflex. Suddenly she saw his wand on the side of her head. " _Imperius_. Rock of Succubus, darling!"

It felt as if Juvia was floating, she was feeling so good when she bent over to get her wand, like she was told her to. And when the order to take off her coat came, she did it without hesitations, the fog in her mind making her feel amazing.

"Good girl." She heard him say. "Now kill her." Juvia tried to fight him off because she didn't want to, for some reason, she didn't want to- "I said kill her!"

"Yes." It felt as if her body didn't belong to her. Lucy was eyeing her with worry, her wand up in a protective manner. Juvia wanted to tell her to run, but nothing came out of her mouth.

"Juvia! Get a hold of yourself." Lucy's voice was damped by Vithaldas echoing ' _fight her, kill her'_.

"She's my succubus now. She'll only take orders from me!" He said and Juvia wanted to turn around and show him exactly whom she belonged to: herself, but she advanced towards Lucy – much slower than if she were in her normal state.

"Juvia! Are you serious?" Lucy was visibly scared when Juvia got too close and with the tiny bit control she had, which was almost nothing, instead of hitting Lucy on the face, Juvia decided to buy time and torn Lucy's blouse.

"Ohhhh Yeah! This is what I like to see!" His voice said and inside Juvia wanted to cry. She didn't want to do any of that. Lucy grabbed some of her shirt and covered herself.

Juvia pulled her up and gave her a headbutt, maybe trying to put herself unconscious so she couldn't fight anymore, but neither she nor Lucy lost consciousness.

"I know you are good! Stop attacking your own friends!" Lucy's words went ignored and Juvia slapped her on the face and then held her by the hair, pulling some of it before letting her go. She should have ran, Juvia thought. He wanted her dead and so far she had only used her body to attack her, not her wand. The moment she did...

"Hey yeah! Hair! Oh, I love it, Succubus. Keep it up!" Master said and Juvia reached for Lucy once again, grabbing her by the hair before spinning the blonde around and slapping Lucy's ass, while she cried out.

"This is sadism!" Lucy said when Juvia once again had released her, just like a cat playing with its food.

' _This isn't Juvia. Not any of it._ ' Juvia thought, grabbing Lucy by the hair again and dragging her towards her Master and stopped halfway through, letting her go before kicking Lucy on her thighs. ' _Juvia doesn't want to hurt her friend. It is presumptuous to call her that. She is Juvia's rival in love. Juvia has come to love you all. It seems so friendly, fun and warm. As though even if it's raining outside, in there the sun is always shining. Just when Juvia thought she was finally starting to get along with everyone... It seems Juvia can only bring sadness._ '

Lucy was staring up to her, eyes wide and Juvia was having trouble seeing all of a sudden because her eyes were burning. Juvia threw Lucy away just as her master yelled: "Juvia-chan! It's time to finish her!"

Juvia raised her wand, hands shaking, trying to fight the curse the best she could while crying. She was afraid to open her mouth and some forbidden curse fall out of her lips. But she had to warn her, she had to warn Lucy she had to protect herself.

" _Run_." Juvia managed to say between gritted teeth. "Fast. Run." Seeing she was still resisting, Vithaldas' grip in her mind became tighter. "Run. _Now._ " It was what she could say before she was under again.

After that, she lost control and yelled _'Avada Kedavra'_ , but Lucy was quick, thankfully. And Juvia's tears were of joy.

Somehow, Lucy looked right into Juvia's eyes. "Someone who shed tears for the sake of her friends could never be rejected by any of us!"

"Juvia! _Finish her off already_!" Vithaldas yelled and Juvia launched herself towards Lucy, wand in hand, wishing the blonde could watch out.

"I would've been scared if the _real Juvia_ were fighting me!" Lucy yelled, grabbing Juvia's wrist and using strength Juvia didn't know the blonde had, pushed her towards Vithaldas. "I'm not scared of _you_!"

Juvia didn't fight at all when Lucy grabbed the wand from her hand and yelled, while pointing at Vithaldas: " _Expelliarmus!_ " His wand flew and then the blonde yelled: " _Stupefy!_ " He flew back and his back hit the Tower's wall, making lose consciousness.

Suddenly, Juvia's world was right again, not foggy at all and she was mistress of her own mind again. Lucy, who was just in front of her, asked: "Juvia?" Her only answer was to sob and nod, Lucy wrapped her arms around her. "Oh, thank Merlin." She kissed the top of the blunette's head. "You are _frightening_ to fight against! Let's never do this again!"

"Okay." Juvia laughed through her sobs and both girls stayed that way for a while until they had to let go of one another.

"Are you okay?" Lucy asked, gently.

"Juvia is the one who hit you." She answered, in shame.

"These?" She looked down. "A potion and it is resolved." Lucy shrugged. "But you... That was an _Imperius Curse_ , Juvia. It leaves more scars in a mind than a few purple spots in a body."

"I'm fine." Juvia said and grabbed her wand from Lucy's hand, pointing at Vithaldas, whispering: " _Incarcerous."_ Ropes appeared out thin air and wrapped themselves around his unconscious form.

Juvia was so exhausted, she fell to her knees not too far from there, Lucy by her side. Her mind was a mess. All she wanted was to sleep. "Maybe... Maybe we should rest for a bit."

"Maybe we should." Lucy agreed, gently putting Juvia's back against the wall and she sat next to the blunette, grabbing the hand between the bodies. "I hope the boys and Erza are okay."

"Me too." Juvia whispered, putting her wand on her pocket, before she slowly closed her eyes.

**#**

Juvia waited outside the room at the Ministry of Magic, where they would see if her actions that day had been good enough to have broken the law about not doing magic outside Hogwarts. So far she had seen Erza coming out free, Natsu too, Lucy came out of the room a few moments before, a man was talking to someone who seemed to be her father behind her – a pure-blood through and through, after four years in Hogwarts, she could spot one in miles – a blonde man in his early forties. Lucy had seen her and, to not contradict her father, probably, just offered a small smile and a discreet wave.

Feeling warm inside by having made another friend, Juvia repeated the gesture and even went for a smile. Lucy mouthed _'I'm gonna write you'_ and the blunette nodded.

It was a nice feeling.

But then, Lucy and her father left, she was alone and scared again. What if they expelled her? What if she was sent to Azkaban, just like Jellal and his minions had been sentenced to?

She was shaking so much, her heart was beating so fast she almost jumped when she felt someone sit by her side and when she found out who it was, her heart almost stopped.

"Hey." He greeted her. "Afraid?" No reason to lie, she just raised one hand and it was shaking so much Gray raised an eyebrow. "Alright, none of this now." He got the hand she had showed him and the other and put it between his. They were so warm. "We did what we had to do. They had kidnapped a friend, no one else would've believed in us if we had told them their plans so we had to act. They wanted to get rid of all muggle borns, we stopped it." He told her firmly. "We did what we had to do."

"Juvia knows." She whispered. "But if she is expelled... Hogwarts is all I have."

He frowned. "Well, you have a bunch of friends now too and we don't leave our friends behind. We will fight for you not to be expelled. Don't worry."

Juvia shook her head. "Juvia's a Slytherin, and all of you are..."

" _People_." Gray told her. "Houses shouldn't matter as much as it does. None of us think a House defines a person, and neither should you. We will not reject you because you are a Slytherin, and we hope you don't reject us because we are Gryffindors." She shook her head. "Good. Now, who's gonna speak for you today?"

"No one-"

"I will." They looked to the side and saw Makarov there, a smile on his lips. "Hello, Juvia-chan."

"Wh-" She was confused. The Headmaster of Hogwarts came all way down to the Ministry of Magic because of _her_?

"All my students are my children." He informed her and Juvia cried.

"Thank you." She sobbed.

"Okay, now go get ready, you are next. I'll have to go back to my mom." He pointed towards the end of the corridor where Juvia saw a woman with short dark hair speaking with some old man. "Don't cry. Things will work out."

"Thank you." She muttered and he let go of her hands, making her miss the warmth of it immediately, she noticed she wasn't shaking anymore.

He just shrugged. "See you at the train." He said with certainty before he said his good-byes to Makarov and went to his foster mother.

Makarov sat beside her. "Don't worry, my child. We will be in and out before you know it."

"Thank you again for coming." She smiled and he did the same. A few minutes later, her name was called and they entered the room

**#**

"Come on, Gajeel-kun!" Juvia said, excited as they walked the hall of the Hogwarts Express – just like Makarov and Gray had promised, she hadn't been expelled and Gajeel had been angry when he knew he missed one hell of a fight – and she was looking for the compartment with the Gryffindors.

Usually, the couple got their own compartment but this year she was changing things.

"They'll kick us out." Gajeel practically sang and Juvia rolled her eyes; he could be so childish sometimes.

"Just behave when we get there, okay?" She stopped, turned around and arranged his Slytherin tie and he slapped her hand away. "Gajeel-kun! First impressions count!"

"Too late for that." He snorted. "Remember? We kind of kidnapped and terrorized one of them? And there were duels and-"

"Waters under the bridge." She cut him off. "Now, really, behave. They are nice, strong people. You will like them."

"Hmph." He didn't sound too convincing but followed her until she found the compartment with Lucy, Natsu, Erza and Gray. Just seeing him made her stomach flutter, he was so handsome.

"Juvia!" Lucy exclaimed in delight once the blunette slid the door open and pulled her for a hug. "How have you been?"

"Alright." She smiled genuinely; as long as Lucy wasn't being too friendly with Gray, Juvia really liked her. It was fun to have someone to write to at that end of the summer. "Can we join you?"

"Of course." Her smile faltered when she saw Gajeel, but then smiled bright again. "I think no introductions are needed."

Gajeel snorted. "I would think so."

"What is _he_ doing here?" Natsu asked, getting up from his seat.

"Juvia is one thing, but _him_..."

"It's not like I _want_ to be here-" Gajeel snarled

"Shut it." Lucy was firm and all the boys shut up. "Both of you" she pointed at the Gryffindor boys "sit down. No one is asking for you to be BFFs. We are sharing the _compartment_ , not the rest of our lives. "And you," she turned to Gajeel "no funny business or baiting the boys."

"There it goes my whole trip." He pretended to sigh.

Lucy rolled her eyes and sat next to Natsu and told him to lie down on her lap, since he was going to get sick in a few minutes, like always.

Since Natsu was occupying most of the seat once he lied down, Juvia sat next to Gray, nervous. She looked up to Lucy and the blonde winked at her, making Juvia blush.

"Natsu-san seems very ill." Juvia whispered to Gray a few moments later.

"He gets motion sickness." Gray told her, also quietly, so their faces were only inches apart. "That's the reason he never tried to get in the Quidditch team."

"Oh." Juvia nodded. "Gajeel-kun gets sick too." She looked over her shoulder and saw her friend by the end of the compartment, next to the door, eyes closed and very pale. "There's a potion for that."

"Yeah, sometime works, sometime doesn't." He shrugged.

"How was the rest of your Summer?" She asked and they talked the rest of the trip to Hogwarts, the rest of the group joining a few minutes later.

**#**

Juvia sat with Gajeel at the Slytherin table, the Sorting Hat had just finished when Makarov stepped up and started his speech, welcoming them.

"As you know, Professor Porla is no longer with us. I'm sure all sort of gossip about it." He chuckled and many people did as well. "To take his place as both Transfiguration Teacher and Head of the Slytherin House, we welcome Professor Purehito Gaebolg also known as Hades, an old friend of mine. A round of applause, please." He started and the rest of the Great Hall followed.

An old man with a long white beard stood up, he had an eyepatch and long white hair and didn't even bothered to smile, just bow a bit to show his respect and then sat down.

"Juvia doesn't like him." He whispered to Gajeel. Her gut was telling her he was off somehow, but it could be her imagination.

"Something's off, right?" Gajeel whispered back and Juvia nodded. "Well, as long as he isn't as bad as Jose... I mean, how worse can that get?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End.
> 
> Lol, I'm kidding. HAHA
> 
> Haha, no, but really this is muuuuuuuch longer than what I planned. Let's see what happens.


	4. Fifth Year – Part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If, a few weeks ago, someone had told me I'd write a Potterverse AU and by chapter 3 I'd have more than a hundred reviews on FF.net, I would have laughed and said: 'Yeah, right'. So thank you for making me reach what I never thought I could reach. S2

"Alright." Juvia said as she and Gajeel walked up the stairs. "This year we have the O. W. Ls , Ordinary Wizarding Level Examinations, and we have to study  _a lot_."

Gajeel snorted. "You mean  _I_  have to study a lot." He told her. "Your grades are always the best, I'm the one who gets just enough to pass."

Even though it was true, Juvia shook her head. "Both of us need to study; if we fail… Juvia doesn't even want to think about it." The blunette shuddered when they reached the top of the stairs. "So, you and I are going to study together, so if you have any doubts, you can ask Juvia- why have you stopped?" Juvia frowned when she looked over her shoulder and saw Gajeel standing a few steps behind her.

"We are going to the library." He told her.

"Uh… Yes. That's where the books we have to read, are." She told him.

"I can't go in there." Gajeel shook his head and took a step back and Juvia's frown deepened. Gajeel didn't like to sit down and study, she had known that from their first test, but he never refused to go to the library. Moaned about it? Yes. Actually look panicked? Never. And Gajeel Redfox did not back away for no reason.

"Why?" Gajeel looked uncomfortable, worrying her. Juvia took a few steps closer to her friend and put a hand on his shoulder. "Gajeel-kun, tell me what's wrong?"

He hesitated, looked around for a moment before pulled Juvia closer to the wall so no one could hear them. "Remember last year when we were taking Lucy to Professor Jose?" It was pretty hard to forget, so Juvia nodded. "I… I encountered with a few of her friends. One of them saw you take her and was about to call for help when I stopped them. I was… cruel." He looked down in shame. "I don't know why, I just was."

"Darkness is harder to fight. Anyone who have battled it, knows, especially when it comes from within." Juvia told him gently.

"I know." He nodded. "It's just… they were two guys and a girl. They put up a fight, sure, but the girl, she is tiny, Juvia, but she fought me without hesitating."

Juvia frowned. "Who is she?"

It took Gajeel a moment to answer. "Levy McGarden. She's our year, Ravenclaw, blue hair."

After a second Juvia remembered the petite girl – Gajeel was right, she was tiny – and recalled seeing Lucy and Levy together many times throughout the years, she was also one of the best students of their year, very smart.

"Juvia remembers her." Juvia told him. "But it doesn't mean she knows why you are hesitating to go to the libr-"

" _She's_  always there." Gajeel cut her off. "And I always remember what I did when I look at her and I hate that." He passed a hand through his hair. "I hate… I hate it. I don't want to go to the library."

Juvia sighed and smiled a bit to her friend. "It's perfectly normal to feel ashamed."

Gajeel looked at her, indignant. "I am not as-"

"Yes, you are. That's why you don't want to see her, because you know what you did that night wasn't right. You regret it." At that Gajeel's gaze moved from Juvia to the opposite wall. "Juvia is ashamed of what she did, but she talked to Lucy-san, Gray-sama… we are all friends now." Even speaking  _his_  name made her heart beat faster. "The year just started, we are hanging out with the Gryffindors more and don't try to pretend you don't enjoy bickering with Natsu-san and Gray-sama because Juvia knows you do." She smiled when she saw a bit of pink flush his cheeks, Gajeel had a lot of fun while playing around with the boys, he was just too stubborn to say anything. "Levy-san will come around eventually, since she is a close friend of Lucy-san's."

They stayed a moment in silence before Gajeel mumbled: "What do I do, then?"

Juvia's smile widened. "You go and apologize to her and her friends." Gajeel opened his mouth to protest, but Juvia cut him. "Sometimes you have to go and admit to someone you hurt that you were wrong and that you are sorry."

"She won't believe me." Gajeel told her.

"She might not." Juvia agreed. "You'll only know when you try. And if she doesn't, at least you'll know you were being truthful; it helps a lot with the guilt."

Gajeel seemed battling with himself for a few moments. "Alright. But  _not_  today. I'm not talking to her today so let's go study outside."

Juvia nodded. "But soon, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Soon." Gajeel started to go back down the stairs and Juvia joined him before they changed.

"Good. Don't make Juvia drag you."

He snorted. "As if you ever could."

**#**

It was the first Quidditch game of the season and the Castle was buzzing with enthusiasm and even Juvia was excited, it was a match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw and Juvia was happy to see Gray playing. He was so good – she could've been a little biased because of her feelings, but in her opinion he was bloody fantastic – and even if she didn't like Quidditch all that much, she liked hooting for him.

Juvia was eyeing him from her spot at the Slytherin table and she could see Gray dressed with the Quidditch uniform, scarlet red with some gold, as he finished his breakfast with his friends. He said something and got up, Natsu offered him his hand and Gray took it, laughing at something the pink haired boy said, then said something to Lucy and Erza, who nodded and started to walk away from the Great Hall, probably going to the lockers.

"If you want to catch him alone before the game, now is the time." Gajeel said and Juvia almost jumped.

"Wha-" She tried to deflect, but Gajeel wasn't having it.

"Go." He pushed her up. "If I had to make peace with Short Stuff, you can go talk to your guy."

"He is not-" Juvia tried.

"Go." Gajeel pointed to the door, Gray had almost reached it. " _Now_. Don't be a crybaby about it."

Juvia glared at him. "Juvia is  _not_  a crybaby." She gathered the nerve to do so and left the Slytherin table, trying to be sneaky but when she glanced at the Gryffindor table, she could've sworn she saw Lucy smile her way.

He was a few meters away already, but Juvia called his name before she lost her courage and he stopped, looking around confused until he saw her. "Oh, hey."

"Hi." Juvia smiled, nervous and they stayed in silence for a few moments; Juvia was looking at him and just admiring how bloody handsome he was, the scar above his eyebrow adding to the charm. She must've looked ridiculous.

"Uh…" Gray was clearly confused. "Did you want something or…?"

She blinked a few times as her mind started to work right again. "Oh, right." She said. "Juvia… uh… Juvia just wanted to wish you luck at the game." It came out almost as a whisper.

His grin was genuine. "Thanks. Ravenclaw's team is tough this year, but we are tougher."

Juvia smiled. "Juvia is sure you are."

"Say, if we were up against Slytherin today, would you still be wishing me 'good luck'?" Gray asked, amused, crossing his arms over his chest, clearly playing with her.

"Well…" She pretended to think for a moment, even though she knew the answer in her heart. "If you were playing against Slytherin, Juvia would be wishing for you to fall from your broom, but that's all, I swear." She shrugged.

"Oh, that's  _all_ , huh?" Gray snorted.

"Yup." Juvia smiled. "But since it's  _not_  against Slytherin…" Feeling courageous and rather bold, she took a step closer to him, put a hand on his arm and tip-toed, kissing his cheek lightly. "Good luck." She whispered before she stopped tip-toeing and didn't move right away, still very close to him.

Gray looked very surprised and she could see his cheek growing warmer. He managed to whisper: "Uh… thanks."

"Bye." She said in a low voice, still close to him, a hand putting a stray lock of her hair behind her ear.

"Bye." It was as if he was on automatic, if his brain had stopped working for a moment and Juvia was proud of it.

She turned around and started to walk back to the Great Hall, her heart beating so fast she couldn't believe it hadn't burst out of her chest yet, her cheeks were burning and the butterflies inside her stomach were very active. She even felt light-headed and when she looked over her shoulder, she saw that Gray was still there, a hand on the cheek she had kissed and also as red as a tomato.

Seeing her watching him, he became even redder and turned around, starting to walk much faster than before and Juvia couldn't help but to grin a bit.

Did she have a chance?

**#**

"Come in, but only for a few minutes." Polyuska said with a deep frown when Juvia asked if she could see Gray. Perhaps it was the tears that had moved her – highly unlikely, but it was a possibility – but the older woman had allowed Juvia access to the infirmary.

Juvia tried to dry her cheeks as she walked further in.

Gray had been hit with a Bludger by the end of the game and had fell from his broom, unconscious and she had been so scared he had been seriously hurt. He was taken straight away to the infirmary and when she tried to ask to his team about his condition when they left the infirmary, they ignored her, seeing she was a Slytherin.

By the end of the corridor, she saw Natsu, Lucy and Erza be granted access and she battled with herself for a while, if she should or not ask to see him. Juvia was sure any of them would happily give her information about Gray's condition, but she  _had_  to  _see_  him, make sure he was alright. So, she worked up the guts to ask Polyuska if she could see him.

The older woman walked with her and she noticed some other bays' curtains were closed, other players who got hurt resting after the game as well.

Finding Gray's bay wasn't too hard, Natsu was talking very loudly and when Polyuska slid the curtain open, four pair of eyes fell on her.

Gray was lying on the bed, a bandage around his head and a sling on his left arm. Natsu sat by the end of the bed, while Lucy and Erza occupied the visitor's chairs.

"Oh, hey, Juvia!" Natsu grinned and noticed her red puffy eyes. "Worried about Gray? Shouldn't be, his head is too thick to be cracked open." His words earned a kick from Gray and both boys laughed. Boys being boys.

"We should go." Lucy got up and so did a confused Erza. "We just wanted to know Gray's injuries weren't too severe, and since they are not, we are leaving."

"What? But we-" Natsu tried.

"Natsu." Lucy said with a stern voice. " _We are leaving_."

The boy blinked in surprise and got up. "Alright." He turned to Gray and held his arm his way, his hand in a fist. "Nice game."

Gray did the same and bumped his own fist on Natsu's. "Thanks. See you guys later."

Erza said goodbye to Gray and then Juvia, Natsu smiled the blunette's way and when she was passing by Juvia, Lucy winked, making Juvia's cheeks burn in embarrassment. Merlin, how obvious was she?

"You can sit down, you know?" Gray told her and Juvia nodded, sitting on the chair closest to his bed. "So, you came to see if I fell down from my broom properly?" He chuckled.

At that, Juvia couldn't hold any longer and started to sob, thick tears falling from her eyes and it was clear it panicked Gray. "Oh, Merlin's beard. Juvia?  _Juvia?_  What-?"

"Juvia didn't mean it." She sobbed. "Juvia  _really_  wished you good luck."

"What the-?" Gray whispered, confused. "Bloody hell, Juvia, I  _know_  you didn't mean it, I was only joking because of the coincidence."

"Juvia brings bad luck." She stopped sobbing, but she was still tearing up. "She shouldn't have kissed you good luck."

"Look, it wasn't your good luck kiss that threw me off the broom. It was that shit face, McMillan and the Bludger he sent my way." His last few words were louder.

" _You had it coming, Fullbuster!_ " Came a voice from a few bays over.

"Oh, go kiss a goblin's ass, McMillan!" Gray yelled and it actually made Juvia smile a bit. His voice was normal when he spoke to her again. "Look, this isn't the first time I fell off the broom while playing Quidditch and certainly won't be the last." Juvia nodded and dried her cheeks again, feeling slightly better he didn't blame her for what happened. "Besides, we won, so in the end it was really good luck."

"But you got hurt." Juvia got up from the chair to sit on the bed, facing him. She touched the bandage around his head and glanced down to his left arm. "You shouldn't have."

He shrugged. "It happens when you play Quidditch. Or even when you fly just because." Seeing her blank expression, Gray frowned. "You… do know how to fly, right?"

"The flying lessons were mandatory during our first year." Juvia told him with a shrug. "Since then? Juvia hasn't been flying."

"No way." Gray shook his head. "That's not possible! Are you afraid of heights?"

"It's not that… it's just…" She tried to explain. "What if Juvia falls? She's literally on a broom hundreds of meters up in the air!"

"That's why you have a wand, to aid you if something like that happens. It almost never happens, really." Juvia raised an eyebrow and looked down to his injuries and Gray rolled his eyes. "This doesn't count, this was McMillan's fault."

" _Sod off, Fullbuster_." The response came from a few bays over again and Juvia put a hand over her mouth to smother her giggle.

Gray ignored McMillan and kept talking to her. "I'll teach you how to fly. How to  _really_ fly."

The butterflies inside Juvia's stomach started again at the prospect of spending more time with him. But flying… she really didn't like flying. "Juvia doesn't fly." She told him. "Juvia swims. Never flying."

"Swims?" He asked with a frown. "Where?" Juvia knew he had heard the rumors about her, everyone have heard the rumors about her going to the Lake so she just gave him a few minutes to work it out and like predicted, he did. His eyes widened once he made the connections. "Wait… are you saying that you  _actually_  swim at the Black Lake?  _For real_?"

"Yes." She smiled. "For real."

"What-? Why-? How-?" He seemed really flabbergasted and Juvia chuckled at his confusion. "Aren't you afraid?"

Juvia shrugged. "Sassa is usually with Juvia and the rest of the creatures are really peaceful if you don't mess with them. Except the Grindylows." She rolled her blue eyes. "They are  _always_ a pain, but once you stun them, they stop coming after you."

He looked amazed. "And Sassa is…?"

"Oh, she's a merperson. We've been friends since our first year." Juvia told him.

"You are friends with a  _merperson_." Gray blinked, stull stunned by the revelation. "An  _actual_  merperson."

"Juvia is."

"And you are afraid of  _flying_!" Gray laughed. "You swim on a lake infested with dangerous magical creatures like it's the most normal thing in the world, but you are  _afraid of flying_!"

"Juvia isn't  _afraid_  of flying." Juvia sounded offended. "She just… rather not."

"I'm teaching you how to fly." He snorted.

"No, thank you."

"Oh, yes I am."

Knowing he was a Gryffindor and most of them were really thick minded, Juvia counter proposed: "Only if you come and take a swim with Juvia at the Lake."

Gray hesitated and for a moment Juvia thought she had won, but instead, he nodded. "Alright, then! I'll teach you how to fly, you teach me how to not get eaten by the Giant Squid. Seems a fair trade."

Wide eyes, Juvia said: "Wait, Juvia wasn't  _really_  expecting you to actually-" She started, but was interrupted when Polyuska opened the curtain.

"Time to go." She said, as dry as ever. "He'll be discharged in a few hours when I know he hasn't sustained a brain injury, but you must go, Miss Lockser, it's almost time for dinner." She turned around before either of them could say a word.

Regretfully, Juvia got up from his bed and even Gray seemed down. "Well, then. Juvia is glad you are going to be fine."

He grinned. "Always."

"See you around, then." Juvia hesitated, but leaned and gave him a peck on the cheek before turning around. She took a few steps when she heard him call her name and she looked at him over her shoulder. "Yes?"

"Are you going to the Hogsmeade visit next weekend?" He asked and she nodded. "Great, the group is going as well. You and Gajeel can join us. If you want, that is."

She smiled. "Juvia would love that."

"Great then." He nodded. "Bye."

Juvia waved and just as she was about to leave, she heard kissing sounds coming from not too far from where Gray's bay was and then she heard him yell: "McMillan, I swear to Merlin I will hex your ass!"

The Slytherin was still giggling when she left the infirmary, utterly happy.

Gray was such a good person, nice to talk to and very handsome, which was a good plus. It seemed her heart might have chosen the right one that time.

She was so lost in her thoughts she didn't realize she was alone in the hallway until she heard some noise behind her and by instinct, grabbed her wand and looked behind her, ready to fight.

Instead to find someone, Juvia frowned when she saw some writing on a wall she had just passed, but in her dreamily state, she overlooked. " _Lumos_." She whispered and there was light coming out from her wand. Her heart stopped when she read words written in blood.

' _The Chamber of Secrets has been opened._ _  
_enemies of the heir, beware'__

"What the bloody hell…?" She whispered to herself and then she felt the hairs from behind her neck rise. There was someone behind her. Gathering all her training, she took a deep breath and said: " _Nox_." The wand stopped emitting light and just as she was turning, she said her best spell, not taking any chances: " _Aguamenti!_ " and water came from her wand in a big wave.

Through the water, all she could see was two big yellow eyes before her world went black.

**#**

Juvia blinked, as the light hurt her eyes and every movement she made her body ache. She was confused, but there were voices she recognized.

"Juvia?" She knew that voice, if she just could concentrate in one thought at the time, she'd known who was speaking to her. "Juvia, can you hear me?"

"Yes." Juvia managed to say in a whisper, trying to keep her eyes opened, but it was a challenge. Her throat hurt, so she croaked "water."

A moment later there was a hand under her neck so she could be angled better and then something cold against her lips; she drank the most amazing water she had ever had. "Not too fast, or you'll choke."

She managed to open her eyes for more than a second to focus and she saw the long black hair, red eyes and piercings. "Gajeel-kun?"

"You have no bloody idea how great it is to see you moving or talking." He sighed. "You gave us quite a scare, stupid."

"What happened?" She asked, sleepily.

Gajeel snorted. "Well, there was a Basilisk on the loose aiming for mudbloods and you were the first one to get petrified."

"Petrified?" Juvia frowned, feeling more aware of her surroundings by the second. "And did you say  _Basilisk_?"

It took Gajeel a while to tell her the tale of what had happened during the month she had been petrified. Apparently, Laxus Dreyar and his friends, all Slytherins, had been cursed by some objects the Dark Wizard managed to give them somehow and they, unaware of what they were doing, were able to control the Basilisk using Parseltongue, the ability to talk to snakes. None of them knew Parseltongue per se, just whispered whatever the objects did.

Juvia was surprised when she knew the Basilisk was gone, and the ones to have killed it were Natsu, Gray, Lucy and Erza.

"You should've seen them when they saw you were petrified." Gajeel told her. "That was the moment I knew they really cared for you. Eventually, us." Juvia was surprised to hear him say. "It's been a long month, Juvia. We worked tirelessly trying to stop what was happening while the Mandrakes grew." When Juvia frowned, he explained. "With a potion with the Mandrakes, you and the others were able to unpetrify – I don't even know if this is a word."

"It's not."

"Even so, it took them a month to be grown enough." Gajeel said. "That's why you probably feel very shitty."

"Every muscle aches." Juvia told him.

Gajeel snorted. "Yeah, you were in the same position for a whole month, it might be uncomfortable."

"It might." Juvia giggled and the muscles hurt, but she could take it.

They kept chatting for a few more moments before the curtain on the bay slid open and she saw Lucy, Natsu and right behind them, Gray, making her heart beat faster.

"Juvia!" Lucy exclaimed and ran to Juvia's side, sitting on the bed and bringing her close to a hug and Juvia smiled. "We were so worried."

"Yeah." Natsu nodded, also stepping closer to the bed. "We didn't know what was happening when they found you."

"I was still here after the game when they brought you." Gray told her, arms crossed over his chest and, like the others, he seemed a little battered. "Almost gave me a heart-attack. Gajeel here almost broke the infirmary to get to you." Gray snorted and Gajeel rolled his eyes but said nothing from his spot on the chair.

"Sorry to have worried all of you." Juvia said, lying back to the back, her back muscles aching too much for her to seat just yet.

"Wasn't your fault." Lucy told her, gently.

"And if you hadn't used the Aguamenti spell, you'd be dead." Natsu said with no finesse at all.

Seeing her frown, Gray clarified: "Anyone who looks to a Basilisk's eyes, dies. You, we assumed, saw it through water, like the others just saw through reflections and lenses, that's why none of you died."

Suddenly Juvia remembered the big yellow eyes. "Oh… Juvia remembers the eyes, yellow."

"And very scary." Lucy nodded. "I can guess. Now all of us should go, Polyuska said all of the ones who got petrified need rest."

"Thank you for coming." Juvia told them, honestly.

"Of course." Lucy kissed her cheek. "Get better soon because we are preparing a girls' night and you are the guest of honor."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Juvia chuckled and waved good-bye to Natsu when he grinned her way and followed Lucy out.

"And if memory serves me right, there are flying lessons coming too." Gray said, his hands inside the pockets of his pants. Juvia opened her mouth to argue, but he was faster. "Did you think getting petrified would get you out of it?"

Juvia smiled. "Damn it, there goes Juvia's plan."

"What flying lessons?" Gajeel asked, confused looking from Gray to Juvia and Gray again. "Juvia doesn't fly."

"Not yet." Gray shrugged his way and then his attention went back to Juvia. "Glad to see you awake."

"Thank you." Even recently un-petrified, the butterflies in her stomach seemed to be in full force.

"See you around." He said and then turned to Gajeel, nodding his way before leaving.

"What is he talking about? You don't fly. You are afraid of flying." Gajeel frowned.

"Apparently, Juvia will learn to fly the right way." She giggled and explained to Gajeel what had happened the day she was petrified.

**#**

A few days later, Juvia was glad to enter the library with her friend and see him excuse himself for a moment to talk to a blue haired girl with a Ravenclaw tie. She watched as he teased her about something, she pouted and he waved good-bye, returned to her side.

Oh, so  _that_  was resolved. She needed to ask Gajeel about it.

Juvia smiled at the interaction and waved in Levy's direction as they went further inside the library, to which Levy waved back.

"Juvia  _has_  to know how you became such good friends with Levy-san." Juvia teased her friend when he returned to her side. The redness of his cheeks were amusing to see.

Gajeel was by no means strange to the ladies, he had been snogging some girls for a while, most of them in search for a thrill to be with a tall and dark guy (Juvia was afraid to ask if it ever went further than snogging) but not once he ever blushed while talking about any of them.

"And I want to know when you and Fullbuster are going on this flying lesson that is totally a disguised date." He answered and they found an empty table, so they pulled the chairs and sat down.

"Any day now. Juvia is not ashamed to admit she likes him, you know that already." She shrugged. "If you like Levy-san, Gajeel-kun, it's alright."

"Okay, we are in a _library_. We should shut up and study, eh? You missed a lot during this month, and the O. W. Ls are coming…" He said, fast, opening books around them and suddenly very interested in the one he had in front of himself.

"Your book is upside-down." Juvia commented, amused.

"Shut up." He mumbled but turned the book around.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, end of the first part of their Fifth year. I hope it was alright the little Chamber of Secrets + Battle of Fairy Tail mixed up, after all, Ever DID petrify the girls and Juvia was one of them so I thought it would be fun to link the stories a bit.
> 
> Are you guys having fun? What do you wish to see next? Let me know!


	5. Fifth Year – Part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are happening, people!

 

Juvia and Gajeel always stayed in Hogwarts during the Christmas Holiday, since neither really liked the idea to return to their foster homes. Since their third year they had been allowed to go to Hogsmeade, the little village close to Hogwarts, so they had a nice time, like always.

During their time off, they still dueled to not lose practice and Gajeel insisted Juvia needed better skills ever since the Basilisk, even though she had told him it was her skills with casting the Aguamenti spell that saved her life.

Even so, they were very happy when people returned to the castle – Juvia wasn’t too excited to see her roommates, who didn’t like her very much and the feeling was mutual – but the moment she saw Gray sitting on the Gryffindor table for dinner, her heart started to beat faster.

“You never looked like this when you were dating Scumbag.” Gajeel told her while stuffing himself with food. Juvia looked his way, an eyebrow raised. “You aren’t even dating the guy and you look like this.”

“Like what?”

“You are drooling.” Gajeel snorted. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s a step up from Bora.”

The blunette glanced towards the Gryffindor table and how they were laughing at some impression Natsu was making and she sighed. “It seems to be such a different world over there.”

“Yeah.” Gajeel agreed. “But at least you are _in_ now, you are going to a girl’s night with them tomorrow, right?” Juvia nodded. Lucy had told her that as soon as they returned that the girls had finally decided on a date and she was invited. “They are all friends with Fullbuster, they might be able to put a good word in for you.” He shrugged.

Juvia looked surprised. “Look at you playing cupid.” She teased him and he groaned in annoyance.

“I just want you to stop being annoying all the time with your sighs.”

She giggled and kissed his cheek. “Thank you anyway.” She knew some people around the room had seen it, but she didn’t care; she was a Slytherin, but human. “And Juvia is certain Levy-san is going to be there, so she’ll praise you _a lot_ to her.” She whispered.

Gajeel became so red it was funny and he looked her way, their faces just a few centimeters away when he whispered back. “I don’t know what-”

“ _Please_.” Juvia giggled. “You two got a lot closer during that month Juvia was petrified” he opened his mouth but she didn’t let him speak “and don’t tell me it was all for research on how to cure me. It’s alright to like her. She seems sweet.”

They stared at each other for a while and Juvia was certain he was going to argue, but instead, his shoulders dropped with a sigh and he returned his attention to the food in front of him and Juvia resumed eating as well.

“She is sweet.” Gajeel mumbled after a while and Juvia smiled. “And nice. I don’t want to break her.”

Juvia snorted. “Not your decision to make.” She glanced at the Ravenclaw table and the blunette had a small book in her hands, reading it while eating absent minded. “Just… be yourself.”

“Good advice.” It was Gajeel’s turn to snort.

“It seems to be working so far.” She shrugged and his red eyes focused on her again, confused. “Juvia caught her looking at you, she looks at you like Juvia looks at Gray-sama.”

If possible, he became even redder. “Shut up.” He mumbled and looked back to his food, but Juvia could see his lips curl in a small smile and she laughed.

Scanning the room, she was surprised to see Gray looking straight at her, and when he noticed he’d been caught, he was quick to look away and Juvia frowned in confusion.

With a shrug, Juvia began to eat again.

**#**

The next night, Juvia prepared her overnight bag and went to wait for Lucy at the seventh floor, as instructed. The blonde came from her left and put a finger in front of her mouth to indicate the blunette should be quiet and Juvia nodded.

Lucy, then, led her through the left corridor to a small door – small for Hogwarts standards at least – and when she stepped inside, Juvia was amazed to see a big bedroom in pastel colors with many beds around and, in the middle, a large space with pillows of all sizes and shapes, where most of the girls were, talking excitedly.

“What the bloody hell…?” She whispered to herself.

“This is the Come and Go Room.” Lucy told her. “It appears when someone needs it to. We needed a place to host girls’ night and this appeared. This time there’s an extra bed, yours.” She pointed to a bed and Juvia stepped closer putting her bag on it. “Now go on and change into your pajamas! We already started.”

Juvia nodded and took her wand, whispering the spell so she changed from her regular clothes to a very modest long sleeved pink pajamas. Comparing to the others, she was hiding much of her skin, but since she wasn’t very keen into showing skin anyway, she pushed the thought aside.

“Good.” Lucy nodded and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the middle of the room. “Girls, here’s Juvia!” She said, excited and there was s round of hellos and hey, Juvia just waved, shy and sat next to Lucy when the blonde did so, a pretty brunette on her other side.

“I know you.” The brunette said and she recognized Cana Alberona, a Hufflepuff her year. “You kidnapped Lucy and got petrified by the Basilisk.”

Juvia blinked in surprise with the straight-forwardness. “Yes.” She answered while Lucy said Cana’s name in disbelief.

“Hm.” She narrowed her brown eyes. “I would say you are not boring at all and since Lucy invited you here, I guess you two are all good and if she is alright with you, so are we.” Cana shrugged. “Introductions, now! I’m Cana, that’s Lisanna” she pointed to a pretty white haired girl she knew was a Ravenclaw, and she waved, offering a smile “that’s Laki” she pointed to a girl with a long purple hair also their year, from Hufflepuff, “you know Erza” the Gryffindor nodded her way “that’s Mirajane, Lisanna’s sister” the white haired girls had a lot in common, she could easily see the family resemblance from the white hair down to the big blue eyes and she smiled sweetly “Levy,” she pointed to the petite blunette girl who smiled shyly “that’s Biska” a green haired girl, Juvia was almost certain was a Hufflepuff a year ahead of herself, tilted her head in acknowledge.

“This little nugget is Wendy.” She put an arm around a girl who was clearly younger than the rest of them and squeezed her. She had deep blue hair and brown eyes and was holding to her white cat as if her life depended on it. “She’s our mascot.”

“Cana-san!” The younger girl said and Juvia chuckled. Juvia was almost sure she was a Ravenclaw.

“And at last, there’s Ever who is currently sulking in her bed.” Cana pointed to a bed where there was a girl lying down.

“Argh, Cana!” Came the complaint and Juvia was surprised to see another Slytherin there. Evergreen was in her last year, if Juvia wasn’t mistaken. “I’m _not_ sulking.”

“Sure.” The brunette snorted and turned to Juvia, pretending to whisper, but speaking loudly enough for Evergreen to hear. “She’s sulking because the guy she’s into is as clueless as they come.”

“Aren’t they all?” Lisanna snorted and the girls agreed.

“I thought it would take a while longer to get into the boys’ subject, but since we got there already…” Lucy turned to Juvia. “What’s going on between you and Gajeel?” The blunette was so surprised with the question she just stared at Lucy as she kept going. “You two have always been together, but yesterday you seemed pretty cozy. Cheek kissing and all that.”

“I…” Juvia blinked.

“We thought you had a thing for Gray, not Gajeel.” Erza said and there were nods around the room.

“Oh, Merlin.” Juvia hid her face in her hands. “Does _everyone_ know about that?” She moaned in frustration.

“Pretty much.”, “Yeah.”, “Only the boys are unaware.” Echoed around the room.

“That’s why we were wondering about you and Gajeel.” Lucy shrugged.

“He was very… _distraught_ when you were petrified.” Levy said, quietly, but Juvia could see she was curious and a bit heartbroken. Oh, that wouldn’t do. “So we wondered…”

“No, no, _no_.” Juvia shook her head and looked straight at Levy. “Yesterday… he was giving Juvia advice and he said something nice.” She looked around. “We met the first day of school, we’ve been best friends ever since. It’s… _hard_ to make friends when many people in our House think we are not worthy of their time because Juvia is muggle-born and Gajeel-kun is half-blood. We stuck together, protected each other.” She sighed. “Joining Professor Jose’s little duel club didn’t help; everyone became afraid of us.”

“They did. I’ve seen you duel, it was quite impressive.” Ever said from the bed, lying down and looking up to the ceiling. “We were part of it for a couple of years, every year he got a different group. He stuck with yours longer.” Evergreen raised her upper body and prompted herself on her elbows so she could look at Juvia better. “People, especially in our House, get jealous when someone without pure blood succeeds more than they do. They think blood somehow gives them rights we shouldn’t have.” She arranged her glasses. “Well, they all can suck it. I’m a half-blood and I am more talented than some pure-bloods I know and so are _you_. Don’t let them belittle you, I can see you like to be good in what you do. Be proud of that, you’ve worked hard, _own it_ ; let them fear you, let them get jealous. The people who stick around are the ones who matters.”

Juvia was surprised to hear Evergreen talk so much, and apparently, everyone else at the group was too: “Wow, Ever. Never knew you could say so many sentences in one go.” Biska teased and a moment later there was a pillow flying her way and the girls laughed. “Hey.”

“She’s right, though.” Erza said, getting everyone’s attention. “We are all good at something, we are all special in our own way, no matter our Houses or blood. Some found out what they are good at, some others haven’t yet.” She shrugged. “That’s why we don’t discriminate Houses or blood in here.”

“We are all prejudiced in a way.” Mirajane said. “But that’s because we were programmed to be that way when we got in. Imagine the scandal, a Gryffindor and a Slytherin friends? Lovers?” She told them. “It would’ve make us all get surprised and a bit disgusted with it during the first couple of years.”

“And then we grow up.” Cana snorted. “Nothing is black and white, nothing is unchangeable. What if they put the Hat on us again today, _right now_? Would we still be at the same Houses? Some would, some wouldn’t.” She shrugged. “We grow up, the people around us change us and we change them.”

“I know you must feel very alone, Juvia.” Lucy grabbed one of the blunette’s hands. “That’s why I asked you here. I’ve only seen you around with the Element Four and when you guys disbanded… not even that, it was only you and Gajeel. Not one single female friend, not that gender matter for a real friendship.” Juvia was surprised she noticed. “I was determined to be kind to you, but then we had that mess during Summer Vacation and you actually fought the Imperius Curse to try to make me leave, to help me. That’s when I knew I wanted to be your _friend_.”

“I think if you let us, we can all be your friends.” Levy told her, kindly.

“If you need anything, anything at all, we are here.” Laki said with a small smile.

Was she hearing right? Were they really offering her… _friendship_? “But…” Juvia looked confused. “I’m…”

“Don’t say ‘ _I’m a Slytherin_ ’, they will talk and talk _and talk_ until they got you.” Came Evergreen’s bored voice from the bed. “They wore me down so I accepted it.”

“Oh, you love it.” Cana mocked and then bumped shoulders with Juvia. “So… come on, what do you say? Want to have a bunch of life meddlers that won’t leave you alone no matter what?”

Juvia didn’t understand why her vision was blurry until she sobbed an “Yes.” And thick tears came out.

Suddenly, she found herself in a group hug that turned into just a pile of young women giggling and yelling they were getting smashed and all Juvia could do was laugh. Those girls wanted to be her friends. In the end, Professor Jose had been right: she had people who liked her, but it wasn’t about her power. It was about her.

It was always _her_.

Most of the girls were red faced from laughter when they finally stopped the group-hug-turned-to-a-big-pile and went to sit back at their places again (eve Evergreen was seated on the bed by then, looking rather amused).

“Okay! So since we are all friends now, come one and let’s talk about Gray and how you loooooooove him.” Cana wriggled her eyebrows. “Come on.”

Juvia looked down. “He doesn’t even notice Juvia likes him _that way_.”

Cana snorted. “Oh, _please_.” She looked to the girls. “By a show of hands, who, in this room, has interest in a guy who is clueless about your feelings?” Everyone’s hands but Wendy’s, Erza’s and Mira’s went up in the air. Even Cana had her hand up. “See? Honey, we _will_ understand whatever you are going through, trust me.” They lowered their hands. “Come on, give us something. We’ve known Gray for years, if anyone can help you, it’s _us_.”

Juvia thought for a moment and then finally said: “So, remember that first Quidditch game?” The girls nodded. “Before that game, Juvia went to wish Gray-sama a good game and she kissed his cheek…” The blunette laughed with their shriek and resumed talking her story while the girls gave their opinions at some points.

It was truly one of the best nights of her life.

**#**

Chins up and shoulders back, Juvia walked with purpose towards the Gryffindor Quidditch team who had just finished her training and were talking. One of them, a girl a year above Juvia, raised her chin in Juvia’s direction and everyone looked her way. Gray’s expression was pleased until a boy said something and the team laughed, but not Gray. Instead, he turned around and told them something, to which all of them became serious and nodded, being dismissed. He was not the captain and seeing the actual captain wasn’t there at the moment, the others followed his orders.  Juvia was confident he would be the captain next year.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” He asked nicely when she was close enough, he brought his broomstick with him, thankfully.

“Well…” She cleared her throat. “Today seems as much as of a good day to break my neck as any.” Gray looked confused for a moment. “Juvia was promised flying lessons?”

Finally understanding her words, Gray chuckled. “Oh, _those_. I didn’t expect you to actually cash that out.”

Suddenly she felt insecure. “Erm… unless you don’t want to anymore or can’t right now.” She whispered. “Juvia waited until you were done to-”

“No, no, it’s fine.” He assured her. “I guess we have a couple of hours until dinner, I can teach you a bit.” Juvia beamed in excitement.

A couple of weeks before during the girl’s night, Lucy had sat next to her on the bed while the others were going to their own beds and told her in a whisper _: “Levy-chan was curious about you and Gajeel as you are probably aware” Juvia nodded “but it was actually_ Gray _who told me about the kiss on the cheek you shared with Gajeel. He seemed_ awfully _interested to know if you two had grown closer during the Christmas Break…”_

Juvia had hope, then. She could do that and according to the girls, Gray was a bit uncomfortable with feelings and never dated anyone for more than a week or two. If she wanted him, she’d have to work hard to get him.

Hence, flying lessons, which she _hated_ but was an opportunity to spend some alone time with him.

“Alright.” He put his broomstick on the ground and took a few steps back and Juvia looked at him – he looked so handsome in his scarlet and gold Quidditch uniform. “Let’s see what you can do first.”

Juvia looked a bit offended, but she had told him she wasn’t so good at it, so of course he’d want to see what she knew. “Up.” She said and the broomstick went straight to her hand. “This is not the problem, the problem is-”

“Fly around for a bit. I need to see your form.” He had turned all clinical while looking at her and even though it wasn’t her most preferred look, at least he was looking at her. The blunette sighed and slowly got on the broomstick and started to sly around, not high enough that she would get hurt if she fell. “Come down.” Gray told her when she passed by him a third time. Her landing was anything but gracious, but at least she didn’t trip on her cape when she came off the broomstick. It would’ve been humiliating. “You are afraid of going too high, you are afraid of falling even with the small height you just flew. That makes you fly… um… a bit crooked.”

“Crooked?” Juvia asked.

“Yeah.” He scratched the back of his head. “You see, instead of going straight, you were putting your weight to your left, which is weird, by the way, because you are right handed.” Juvia was surprised with the information; she never noticed. “And you were thinking too much.”

“The fear of falling can make a person think.” She pointed out and he grinned.

“That it can.” He seemed to think for a moment. “Okay, you won’t become an expert with one lesson or two, but we can improve your flying skills so if you ever need to fly instead of swim, you can do it.”

“Not crooked, you mean.”

“Not crooked, yes.” He agreed.

“Alright.” Juvia nodded. “How do you propose we start?”

“You need to lose that silly fear of heights.” He told her. “You need to fly higher.”

Gray hadn’t even spoken the whole sentence before Juvia had been shaking her head and let go of the broomstick. “ _No_. No, Juvia will fall. Juvia has seen people fall. _You_ included.” She took a step back.

“Okay, I fell that day because of a _Bludger_ , not because I don’t know how to fly or am bad at it.” He stepped closer to her. “I didn’t fall the game after that, or in any other practice we’ve had.”

Juvia shook her head again. “No. I’m sorry, Juvia won’t go up there on her own.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Who said anything about going on your own?”

She blinked twice before asking, confused: “What?”

Gray put his hand out and said “Up” so the broomstick returned to his hand and he hopped up. “I’m not letting you up there when you still fly all crooked up to the left. Come on, I’ll be there with you.” He offered her one hand and Juvia’s eyes were wide. “I won’t let you fall. Promise.”

Juvia was afraid, so _, so_ afraid but in a burst of courage, she accepted his gloved hand and sat in front of him. There went nothing.

“Alright.” He told her from behind her, he was looking over her right shoulder. “I won’t go too fast but I will go far up enough and just for a while, this broomstick wasn’t really meant for two people.”

“ _What?_ ” She looked over her shoulder and saw him grinning, mischievously. “No, _no_. Juvia gives up. She wants to step d- _ahhh_!” Before she could step down from the broom, Gray took off and aside from the initial squeal, Juvia closed her eyes and held on to the broomstick.

The wind was cold and she could feel they were getting higher and higher, but just couldn’t open her eyes. She was going to fall. She was going to fall hundreds of meters from up in the air for a guy she hadn’t even kissed yet.

What a crappy way to go.

The thought of dying from the fall actually stopped her from realize they finally had stopped going higher and were still up in the air.

“Juvia? Are your eyes are closed? _Really_?” He asked, amused, from behind her. “Come on, open them.”

She shook her head and she could feel her hair move with the wind. “No.”

“You are going to miss a beautiful view if you don’t.” He informed her. “And the point of this is for you to stop this silly fear.”

“It’s not a silly fear.” She told him, eyes still shut.

With a sigh, Gray put a hand over her stomach and pulled her towards his chest so she could sit straighter and Juvia, for some reason let him, but her hands were still on the broomstick. She felt him rest his chin on her right shoulder for a moment. “Are you afraid of heights when you are, let’s say, at the Astronomy Tower?” She shook her head. “Alright. You’ve come this far so I don’t think you’ll give up now. I need you to open your eyes-”

“But I…”

“I need you to open your eyes and look _forward_ , not down.”

She frowned and tilted her head towards him. “What?”

“Think you are at the Astronomy Tower and just look to the horizon.” He said and his voice was actually calming her. “Don’t look down. Just look to the horizon.” Gray repeated. “Do you think you can do that?”

“Look to the horizon.” She made sure to repeat.

“Just that. If you’re still afraid after that, we go back down. But you have to at least try.” He had a point so Juvia took deep breaths.

“Just look to the horizon, Juvia.” She whispered to herself, not caring if Gray was listening. “Just to the horizon.”

“You can do it.”

Slowly, Juvia opened her eyes and her breath got caught in her throat. Her heart started to beat even faster after seeing how high up they were and she put one hand on top of the one Gray had on her stomach and took in the scene in front of her.

From up there, she could see the sun setting behind the lake, the reflection was just as beautiful as the sky was, from the darker shade of blue to the specks of pink and orange.

It was _beautiful_.

“I told you it was a good view.” He said and only then she realized she had spoken out loud.

“It is.” She smiled and gasped when he started to fly around.

“Look to the horizon.” He reminded her and Juvia nodded, grasping harder on his hand but after a while, she started relaxing, seeing all the angles possible. Gray was right, it was a good feeling and at some point, she even smiled when she looked behind her to let him know she was beginning to enjoy it and he seemed very pleased with himself.

They stopped again at the same spot as before and Juvia was much more relaxed. “Juvia will try to look down now.” She told him and took a deep breath before she took a peek and seeing how high they were, she looked up again. “Nope. Maybe next time. Juvia doesn’t want to ruin this.”

“Okay.” Gray laughed and Juvia looked over her shoulder.

She brought a hand to his cheek and brought his face closer, kissing the other cheek. “Thank you for doing this.”

“I… You…” He looked down at her, gaping. “You’re welcome.” She smiled and for a moment, the broomstick lost height and she squealed in surprise.

“Oh, Merlin, I knew it was too good to be true.” So it was _the_ day after all. Well, at least she had shared that moment with him.

“Sorry. Don’t worry! _Sorry!_ ” He told her after he stabilized them again. “Damn it, I lost focus for a moment. Shit.” Gray said and she wished she could see his face but she was too busy wondering if she was going to die from the fall or not. “I’m sorry, but you _did_ just kiss my cheek. My mind went… elsewhere.” He said too fast she almost didn’t get it. “But forget about this okay? Remember the rest? It felt good, right?” She nodded, eyes closed again. “Good.” He started to go back down. “And uh, warn a guy next time, alright?”

Juvia couldn’t help it but to laugh.

**#**

On the next Hogsmeade visit, Juvia and Gajeel were walking together when they caught Levy getting inside Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop – she had been complaining about her quills and how much she needed more for the O. W. L’s exams the next week – and Juvia told Gajeel to go inside too.

“But I don’t need quills.” He told her in a hiss.

“Well, don’t buy any, then.” Juvia pushed him. “Go. Be yourself, strike a conversation!”

“Merlin’s beard, I hate you so much sometimes.” Gajeel cursed and then after glaring at her, walked towards the shop while Juvia looked very entertained.

After watching through the window Gajeel awkwardly approach Levy, who seemed pleased to see him there, Juvia sighed happily, pulled her coat closer to herself and started to walk slowly around the village. She couldn’t get enough of it, it was one of the prettiest places she had ever been. Sure, she hadn’t been in many places but even so-

Her train of thought was cut when she heard a female voice call her name. She frowned and smiled when she saw Lucy, followed by Natsu and Gray not too far behind.

“Hi, Lucy-san, Natsu-san, Gray-sama!” Juvia greeted them and they all greeted her back.

“Boys, stay here for a moment?” Lucy asked, already getting Juvia’s hand and pulling her aside. “I need to talk to Juvia. Girl talk.” Both boys looked confused but shrugged and nodded. “Good.” Once they were far enough so the boys couldn’t hear them, Lucy whispered to her friend. “I need you to take Gray away from Natsu and me.”

“Wha-?”

“I love him, he is my friend but he can’t take a _freaking hint_!” Lucy said, frustrated and even though Juvia’s green eyed monster howled with the confession, it calmed down with the blonde’s next words. “I’ve been trying to get Natsu alone so I can tell him what I _feel_ , since he won’t _notice_ it” she pouted “but Gray has just been _glued_ to our side ever since we left the castle and it was all good when we were thirteen but not that much fun when we’re fifteen, this is out last trip here before the O. W. Ls and a girl _is trying_ to confess before we get buried in studying and freaking out about tests!”

“Alright, take a breath.” Juvia never saw Lucy freak out like that and they were hanging out a lot, which warranted them all types of looks; their little group was very uncommon. “Juvia will take Gray-sama. That way she can also have some alone time with him, huh?”

“See? Win-win.” Lucy grinned and then paled. “Oh Merlin, Juvia. I’m _actually_ going to tell him. I finally worked up the courage but I feel sick. What if he rejects me and we stop being friends? He is my best friend.” Her voice shook. “I can’t lose him.”

“You won’t.” Juvia assured her, certain. “Even before Juvia had properly met you, she knew he was enamored with you. He might be a little thick, but he knows his feelings and once he hears yours… everything is going to be fine.”

“Do you think so?”

“Juvia knows so.” The blunette nodded. “Now, she thought you Gryffindors were supposed to be courageous.”

“Give me a Basilisk any day instead of a confession and I will show you courageous.” Lucy mumbled and Juvia giggled, making Lucy giggle as well and feel less tense. “I can do this. I _will_ do this.”

“Yes.”

“If this doesn’t work, I’ll be at the Hogwarts’ kitchen eating every sweet they have around two in the morning if you want to join me.”

“Alright.” Juvia smiled. “Now, shall we?” She tilted her head towards the boys and after a moment, Lucy took a deep breath and nodded. Once they were close enough to be heard, Juvia said: “Gray-sama? Didn’t you tell Juvia yesterday you needed to go to Honeydukes? She needs to go as well.” Juvia was referring to the sweet shop down the street.

Gray looked confused but before he could say anything, it was Natsu who spoke: “Oh, I have to go there as well! I need to buy some stuff.” Lucy’s eyes widened and she threw a look Juvia’s way.

“Oh, did Juvia say Honeydukes? No, she meant… Uh…” She thought about a place Gray would like to go “ _Spintwitches Sporting Needs_! _Yes_ , that’s the store Gray-sama needs to go. And… so do I, apparently.” She mumbled the last word.

Natsu was frowning. “I get it Gray going, but you don’t play Quidditch or any sport as far as I know.”

“Well…” He was right, but she couldn’t let him know that. “You said it:, as far as _you_ know. Juvia plays… stuff.”

“What stuff?” Natsu was looking at her with suspicion.

Juvia just couldn’t think about any other sport, so she stepped closer to Natsu and whispered low enough the other two couldn’t hear them: “Natsu-san, Juvia really needs some time alone with Gray-sama and you are making it very hard to get it.”

When Juvia stepped away from him, Natsu’s lips were in an “o” shape and then he snickered. “ _Oh_ , Spintwitches Sporting Needs, of course! My mistake.” He winked at her not as sneaky as he thought it was. He stepped closer to Gray and elbowed him on the ribs. “Enjoy _getting your supplies_ , mate.” The innuendo in his voice was so obvious, Juvia’s face couldn’t be redder.

She looked at Lucy, who mouthed a ‘thank you’ before Juvia grabbed Gray by the hand and pulled him towards the shop.

“Juvia?” He heard him ask from behind her as they walked. “What was that about? I never said I needed to go to Honeydukes or Spintwitches Sporting Needs.”

“I know.” Thankfully the village wasn’t too large, so they were in a deserted part of it soon enough and Juvia could stop walking. She let go of his hand, missing its warmth already.

“So…? Can you tell me why you brought me here?” He raised an eyebrow.

Juvia sighed. “Lucy-san wanted to talk to Natsu-san. Alone. And you were not getting the hints.”

The blunette saw Gray frown and then realization hit him. “Is she telling him? Today?” He was incredulous. “She is confessing _today_? Why didn’t she tell me? I would’ve made myself scarce a long time ago.”

“Wait, you _know_?” Juvia was surprised.

Gray scoffed. “ _Of course I know_. We met on the train and I’ve known since day one. Those two were always drawn to each other.” He waved a hand in dismissal. “I don’t believe in soulmates and crap, but they are different from others. It’s weird.”

“Do you think he’ll return her feelings?”

“Oh yeah.” He snorted. “Don’t worry, the feelings are pretty mutual. He just never really realize it. I think he will today.”

Juvia sighed in relief. “Good. Juvia was afraid for a second he would reject her.”

“Nah.” Gray shrugged. “It’s Natsu and Lucy.” He said as if it were an explanation. “Now, how about we actually go to Spintwitches Sporting Needs? I actually need to buy new gloves.”

“Alright.” Juvia smiled and Gray waited for her so they could walk together back to the village.

**#**

After Gray had chosen a very good pair of Quidditch gloves, they went to Honeydukes for some sweets supplies for the next couple of weeks and, just as they were getting out, they saw a very red-faced Lucy being pulled by the hand by an equally red-faced Natsu towards the path that led to Hogwarts and just as they were about to exit the village, Natsu stopped her and gave the blonde a peck on the lips, before they resumed their walk, hand in hand.

Juvia beamed in happiness and Gray was grinning when she looked up to him. “Well, now I’m officially the third wheel.” He snorted and they slowly started to make their own way back.

“As long as they are happy, though…”

“Yeah, of course.” Gray agreed promptly and they walked a bit in silence before he called her name and she hummed in acknowledgment. “Why do you always look at old photos so hard, as if you are looking for something?” She looked his way. “I’ve noticed that you do that a lot whenever pass by a picture, even at school. It’s not just out of curiosity.”

Juvia was surprised, she never thought people noticed her habit. “You are going to think it’s silly.”

“I’m assure you I won’t. But it’s alright if you don’t want to tell me, I was just curious because you did the same thing at Spintwitches.”

“No, it’s fine.” She took a deep breath. “Juvia’s an orphan. She never met her parents, she was just found with a note with her name on it and that’s that. Not even an explanation. Since she was a little girl, Juvia would try to look at pictures to try to find someone who looked like me.” Her smile was sad and she was tearing up a little bit. “Just to find some sort of connection. She stopped after no results.”

“When Juvia learned she was a witch, though… There was a whole other world to look for information.” She told him, drying a tear. “That’s why. I look for blue hair, for a last name close to mine. _Anything_. Juvia knows she’ll probably never know and this is not about blood, is not proving she’s a half-blood or anything.” She assured him. “Fifteen years later and this i’s one of the questions she always had and she still wants an answer.”

Gray was serious, then. “I’m sorry, I thought you had met them at least, like the rest of us. I never thought…”

“It’s alright.” She shrugged. “Juvia got used to it. She didn’t realize she still did the photo thing.”

“You do.” He told her gently. “I don’t think anyone else noticed, though, I think it was just me.”

Juvia nodded. “So, have you been watching Juvia?” She teased him. _She_ sure had been watching _him_ , she would’ve noticed if he had.

“Maybe.” He said in a non-committal way with a shrug.

Juvia stopped walking, not believing her ears. Did she just hear him...? No, she was being crazy. Unless she wasn’t. They’ve had met lots of times because of their little group, she was having flying lessons from him and whenever they were alone she could feel… Did that mean he felt a bit that way too?

There was only one way to find out. And Lucy was right, it was hard. She’d rather take on a Basilisk, but she’d be brave. Maybe she would be the one eating sweets at two a.m.

“Gray-sama?”

“Yes?” He stopped walking and turned around.

Juvia took a few steps his way so she could stand really close. “You… uh… you told me to warn you the next time, right?” He seemed confused for a moment, until he remembered.

“Yeah?” He whispered.

With all her courage, she said: “You have three seconds to step away from Juvia.”

He blinked in surprise. “Why?”

“Because Juvia is about to kiss you – and _not_ on the cheek – and if you don’t want her to, you have three second to step away and she’ll understand.” She whispered.

“Alright.” He nodded.

Five seconds later, Juvia whispered to him: “You didn’t move.”

“You didn’t kiss me.” He whispered right back.

“Because Juvia thought you were going to step away from her.” He frowned with her words. “Now what, then? Juvia really didn’t think this through.”

“I think it means someone needs to kiss the other?” He asked.

“That makes sense, but who-” She was interrupted by his lips gently touching hers.

Juvia felt as if there was electricity passing through every cell of her body, her heart was beating so fast and her hands were sweating. It was only a light touch of their lips in a very sweet kiss but she was already melting.

He stopped kissing her for a moment to take a look at her and what he saw must’ve been of his liking, because he dove in again, joining their lips, deepening the kiss, an arm around her waist to support her and pull her close and the other on her jaw.

If Juvia didn’t have him holding her, she would’ve fell on the ground, that’s for sure. Juvia didn’t care about that at all, all she could think of was how amazing it was to kiss Gray, to put her arms around his neck and kiss him, over and over again while he matched her enthusiasm.

“So maybe I won’t be the third wheel.” He whispered between kisses and she giggled into the kiss.

“Gray-sama?” She asked when they needed air. He hummed and rested his forehead on hers. “What are we doing? What is this?”

It took him a moment to answer. “I don’t know. But it is something, isn’t it?”

“It is.” She nodded.

“Alright. We can work with that, right?” Gray asked her.

“We can.” She pulled him down to a kiss, one he gladly reciprocated and Juvia let herself get lost into his kisses, touches and secret smiles.

They could figure the rest, later.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *screams incoherently for an hour* YESSSSS! I hope this chapter was a let down!


	6. Summer Vacation II

 

Knowing she was a bit earlier than everyone and already had bought what she needed for that new school year, Juvia slowly walked towards back at the Diagon Alley towards the Leaky Cauldron where she would meet her friends so they could spend the rest of their vacation together.

Lucy had sent her a letter a few days before, saying that her father had said yes for her to take a few friends to their beach house and she wrote her friends, Juvia included, so they could all meet and travel there via Floo Powder.

Juvia was thrilled when, a few days before, she received a phone call from Gray instead of just a letter as they had been doing all summer, asking her if she got the authorization from the orphanage’s Headmistress.

Hearing his voice made her melt all over and miss him even more – after their first kisses at Hogsmeade, even though they (him) didn’t want to label what they were and with the O. W. L’s, they managed to sneak out and meet, only their closest friends knew of their affair.

Juvia couldn’t help it but to smile like a silly girl while she walked on the Diagon Alley, thinking about how one night they had managed to sneak in the Astronomy Tower, lied down on the floor and gazed at the stars. It had been very romantic – if she ignored the fact that Gray had to be bribed for her to have her romantic moment; his payment was snogging time for the rest of their hidden date and Juvia sure had nothing to complain about, she loved his kisses.

It was weird how much she enjoyed just kissing him. While in her relationship with Bora, she had accepted it was going to be a part of it and while it was nice for most part, it was hardly something she heard other girls sigh and talk about.

But one kiss with Gray and Juvia _understood_.

Gajeel had had one look at her when she arrived at the castle after that first batch of kisses and narrowed his eyes for a moment. _“Oh bloody hell. Something happened, didn’t it? You are going to talk my ear off, aren’t you?”_ He rolled his eyes and sighed. _“Come on, the earlier we start, the sooner this torture will end.”_

Later on, he had told her she arrived at the Slytherin Common Room with a wide smile and looking rather dreamy and Juvia believed him, she was on cloud nine that day and every day since.

The only thing that bothered her was that while Lucy and Natsu stopped hiding their new relationship a couple of weeks after the Hogsmeade trip, Gray and Juvia still pretended they were just friends while in public. Juvia bit her lower lip – she had to work on that front soon, she didn’t want any girls thinking they had a chance with Gray unless they wanted to find themselves hexed with an itchy spell.

She shook her head, trying to make those thoughts go away and to calm down her green-eyed monster. Gray didn’t seem the cheating type and as far as she knew, they were exclusive. Weren’t they?

Her line of thought was interrupted when she heard her name being called and her heart raced when she looked over her shoulder and at the doorway of Flourish and Blotts, there was Gray.

“Gray-sama?” She asked, amazed to see him there which was ridiculous because they were supposed to meet in a little while. Juvia walked his way and he met her halfway – he wasn’t smiling like she was, but she knew him enough to notice how his eyes had softened when he looked at her. “How are you?”

“Great. Excited for this week at the beach. You?” They were close, but not enough for her liking.

Knowing he wouldn’t appreciate her throwing her arms around him like she wanted to, Juvia contained herself. “Same.” She told him and they stayed in silence for a while, just looking at each other and Juvia felt a little awkward. They had been snogging like crazy during the last weeks of their school year, so she really should’ve been ahead of the awkward phase. “Uh… did you buy everything you need for school?” He blinked as if she had brought him from a deep thought. “You were just at Flourish and Blotts, right? That’s usually when you get your books.” Juvia said, knowing it would be a while until she had enough to buy there; she still had to use the second handed ones.

“Right.” He nodded. “Yes.” Gray cleared his throat. “Yes, bought them all. Just, actually. That’s when I saw you passing by the window and I kind of ran off… aw, damn it.” He cussed. “I will get an earful.”

Juvia frowned. “From whom?”

Gray opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a man carrying a lot of books bumping on Gray and saying: “Damn it, Gray! I am _not_ your house elf, you can’t just run off and leave me behind to pay for your crap.” The man, Juvia noticed, was a bit older than they were, with white hair. His eyes were dark green and sharp, taller than Gray and just as handsome – even though she thought Gray would win that competition. “What happened?” He asked, watching as Gray gathered his books better on his arms and then glanced Juvia’s way as if he had just seen her there. “Oh. Hello.”

“Hello.” Juvia offered him a small smile and Juvia saw him blink in surprise for a moment and for some reason she couldn’t fathom, he became quite red. Was he mad at her for Gray running off the store?

He cleared his throat and looked confused. “I know you from somewhere but I can’t remember from where.”

“From school.” Gray mumbled, looking irritated to have been caught by surprise. “You are two years older, you were gone by the time we started hanging out.” Gray looked Juvia’s way and, with a sigh, said: “Juvia, this is Lyon. We were adopted by the same woman when we were kids.”

Juvia nodded in understanding and Lyon looked at her in realization. “Oh! I remember you now.” He smiled her way. “You were part of the Element Four, weren’t you? You were nothing to be messed with.” He chuckled and Juvia smiled, proud to have herself recognized. The white-haired man offered her his hand. “Since Gray doesn’t want to properly introduce me, I’m Lyon Vastia. I was at Ravenclaw, a couple of years ahead of you.”

“Juvia Lockser.” She shook his hand and with her other, put a stray lock of her blue hair behind her ear.

“Enchanted.” He actually leaned and kissed her hand without breaking eye contact and Juvia looked around, embarrassed some people actually looked their way. She glanced at Gray and saw him get red as well, looking at Lyon in disbelief. “So, you are a friend of Gray’s, huh?”

Juvia was a little surprised to hear the little tone of flirt, because that just wasn’t possible. Right?

“Yes, she is.” Gray bumped on Lyon and gave him the books he was holding, back, so he had to let go of Juvia’s hand. “Look, you can go now. Ur said she would have these delivered for me at Lucy’s beach house so we could leave for Hogwarts from there.”

“She also said to keep an eye on you. The last time you were here on your own, you ended up in the Tower of London and she had to go to the Ministry of Magic for an audience because you used magic while underage.” Lyon told him and looked Juvia’s way. “Can you believe this?”

“Oh.” She blinked before answering. “Uh… Juvia was with Gray-sama that day, actually. She had to go to the Ministry as well.”

“Did you now?” Lyon sounded awfully interested and Juvia suspected he already knew about her involvement. Ravenclaw indeed. “That sounds _fascinating_ , care to tell me over a cup of-”

“ _Alright_.” Gray interrupted him, his face was red and he put himself between Lyon and Juvia. “You have to leave. _Now_.” He said between gritted teeth. “I will be fine, I have zero intention of getting in trouble. We are going to wait at the Leaky Cauldron and I’m sure you have to go back.”

“I could stay a while more.” Lyon looked over Gray’s shoulder to peek at Juvia. “I sure wouldn’t mind.”

“No.” Gray grabbed Lyon and pulled him far enough Juvia couldn’t hear them. He looked very angry and for a while, Lyon seemed confused until realization dawned upon his face and he glanced her way. Gray looked her way as well, his redness deepening then their attention was back to each other.

Juvia saw Lyon, while speaking with Gray, took his wand and whispered a spell so the books were floating by his side instead of in his arms and smirked towards the younger man. They finally seemed to reach some sort of agreement a minute later and walked her way back again.

“It seems I am being dismissed, Juvia-chan.” Lyon said and Juvia wondered why he called her that. “Apparently, I am embarrassing _someone_.” He rose his eyebrows Gray’s way and Juvia had to bite down a laugh when Gray looked at him in frustration. “It was a pleasure to get to know you.”

His smile was sincere, so Juvia smiled back. “Likewise.”

“Now I have to go and tell Ur all about meeting Gray’s _girlfriend_. She won’t let him forget it anytime soon.” He said fast enough, probably so Gray couldn’t interrupt him. “Bye.” He, then waved her way before showing his tongue to Gray and apparated.

“She’s not- _Shit_.” Gray tried, but Lyon was gone. “ _Urgh_ , he’s gonna tell Ur and she _really_ won’t let me live this down.”

Trying to hide her hurt about his denial of their relationship, Juvia cleared her throat. “Uh… Juvia is sorry?”

He glanced her way and sighed. “Not your fault. Lyon is a blabbermouth and it was my own fault anyway, running and leaving him behind. I could’ve waited to meet you with everyone else at the Leaky Cauldron.”

“Why didn’t you?” Juvia asked, curious.

Gray blinked a few times before answering. “I… I don’t know.” He seemed confused with his own behavior. “Before I knew, I was at the door.”

Warmth spread through Juvia. He didn’t know, but she did. Juvia had that feeling all the time when he was concerned and sometimes she could act before taking action, but sometimes she acted without really thinking just because she wanted to be close to him.

Gray had done the _exact_ same thing.

Without saying another word, Juvia grabbed his hand and lead him through the crowd to a side street that was quite empty. He looked confused up until the moment she pushed him towards the wall, tip toed and kissed his lips.

He was surprised for about a second before one hand was on her lower back and the other on her jaw and took him another second to spin them around so she was pinned on the wall.

“Wanted to do this since I saw you passing by the store.” Gray confessed between kisses and Juvia smiled.

“It’s been too long.” She answered, stealing another kiss and Gray hummed in agreement, resuming kissing her for a while until she, regretfully had to stop him when he dove in for another kiss while they were panting, trying to get their breaths back. “We have to go.” She informed him. “We have about ten minutes to get to the Leaky Cauldron to meet everyone.”

“You are right.” Gray groaned in annoyance and took a step away from her, to Juvia’s regret.

“We are definitely snogging more later, Juvia is sure Lucy-san’s house has _a lot_ of empty rooms.” Juvia smirked when she saw him blush, it was always fun to see and it made her feel warm inside. Gray just nodded in response. Juvia, then, passed a hand through her hair to get it less messy. “How does Juvia look? Does it look as if she just spent five minutes kissing you?”

“Yeap.” He popped the p, clearly amused. “I bet I look the same way?”

“Yes.” Juvia chuckled as she glanced to his messy hair, messier because she really liked to pass her fingers through it while they kissed, she found out. Gray tried to com his hair back into place with his fingers and after a few moments arranging themselves, they headed back to the main street, side by side. “So… where are your things?”

“I had them delivered at Lucy’s place, better than taking with me. And yours?” He asked, curious.

Juvia opened her coat and showed him a little side purse she was wearing and Gray frowned, confused.

“Undetectable expanding charm.” She told him. “All Juvia needs is here.” She patted the purse.

“Wow. We haven’t learned that yet in school.”

Juvia shrugged. “ _You_ didn’t. Juvia has been practicing this spell for a year and she finally got it right.”

“Nice.” He seemed impressed and pleased with her knowledge. It was one of the things she really liked about him: he didn’t feel threatened at all about her knowing some spells he didn’t like sometimes she knew Bora was back when they dated. She even corrected his posture one time when he was mock fighting with Natsu. His wand hand had been lower than it should be for best effect – something she caught during her dueling times was that teachers taught in a general way, but some students needed some special adjustments – and correcting him had been automatic. Gray was amazing, he just needed that little adjustment. Instead of being annoyed, he did what she told him to correct his posture and when the spell came out better than before, he had laughed while seeing Natsu’s stunned face before he thanked her. “We have a few minutes and I can see Fortescue's line is incredibly short. I’ll buy you an ice-cream.”

Juvia nodded in excitement and couldn’t help it but to twine her arms on his and rest her chin on his arm, looking up, grinning. “Aw, remember that time last summer we went there? It was our first date.” She teased him.

Gray snorted. “Yeah, let’s hope a maniac doesn’t appear this time to start a fight with us. Ur would _kill_ me if that happened.”

**#**

Lucy’s family beach house was actually a mansion, Juvia concluded while being lead further in by the blonde, their friends by her side. She was looking around in wonder how would it be like to have so much money to be able to afford a beach _mansion_.

Looking over her shoulder, she caught Gray’s gaze and mouthed ‘wow’ and he nodded, also amazed; apparently, he hadn’t known how big the place actually was either.

Alongside with them were Natsu, Erza, Wendy and Levy. The others, unfortunately couldn’t make it, even though she knew Gajeel would spend a day there, it was all he managed to get since he didn’t have permission to leave his orphanage and running wasn’t an option; it would bring too much unwanted attention.

“So, that is my room.” Lucy pointed to a door at the end of the corridor. “On the right rooms we have: Levy-chan, Juvia, Wendy and Erza. On the left, Natsu and Gray. Whoever sent their stuff, it’s already inside their rooms.” She pointed to each door and turned to smile at her friends. “I hadn’t been here in a while, so I’m very excited. Go change and we’ll meet downstairs so we can go to the beach!” She squealed in delight and Juvia couldn’t help it but to smile at it as they walked towards their designated rooms.

Juvia’s eyes widened when she got inside her room; it was spacious, the walls were white, there was a double bed that looked very comfortable with some blue pillows on top of them, nightstands in each side of it, a full-length mirror, a wardrobe and a two-seats couch.

But what really caught her attention was the small balcony so she walked right over, amazed at the view of the beach, taking a deep breath and reminding herself how much she loved it.

Feeling just as excited as Lucy had been, Juvia took her suitcase from inside her purse and put it inside the wardrobe. She got her bathing suit and stepped into the bathroom, which looked amazing and as if it had just come out of a design magazine.

Juvia put a dress on she was looking herself in the mirror when she heard a knock on the door and said it was okay to get in.

“Are you ready?” Lucy asked and closed the door behind her.

“Yes.” The blunette said and frowned when Lucy looked to her dressed and wrinkled her nose. “What?”

“Juvia…” Lucy started slowly, as if trying to find the right words. “You are very modest, I can see that you are.” Juvia nodded. “But… you are on the beach. Are you sure you want to wear a dress like this? All up to your throat?” Juvia had to admit it was a little puffy. “Look, if you are comfortable, I say go for it but if you are not and you think you should wear this for some reason… Don’t.”

Juvia looked at herself in the mirror and then to Lucy’s reflection. The blonde had chosen shorts and a t-shirt but Juvia could see the straps of her bikini peeking out.

“I… I got used to wear these clothes.” Juvia told her friend. “In the orphanage, you always get hand-me-downs and they are always too big so they can last for a while. During her first years in Hogwarts, she had the clothes fitted by magic. I liked it.” Lucy nodded in understanding. “But then Juvia’s body began to change and suddenly everyone was looking at her all weird and Gajeel-kun explained her why. He did. They were looking…”

“Urgh, yeah, I get the picture.” Lucy agreed with a nod.

“So Juvia began to wear her clothes loose again. Most of the looks stopped, some didn’t.” She shrugged.

“Well, the looks will never really stop, no matter what type of clothes you wear; you are a very pretty girl, Juvia.” Lucy told her and Juvia was surprised. Of course she knew she wasn’t a _monster_ , but having one of the prettiest girls in Hogwarts telling her she was pretty… Juvia didn’t know she wasn’t that vain until that moment. “What?” Lucy was confused. “You look surprised.”

“Juvia is.” She confessed. “Hearing someone describe me as pretty…”

“It’s the truth.” Lucy said, confident. “You are and you shouldn’t be ashamed of wearing whatever it is. Do you want to wear this dress? Wear it. Do you want to wear shorts? Go for it. Do you want to wear a summer dress? Amen. No one here is going to give you weird looks for what you choose to wear.” She thought for a moment. “Well, except for Gray.”

“What do you mean?” Juvia asked, concerned: she _really_ didn’t want for Gray to give her a weird look.

Lucy smirked. “He has only seen you in your uniform and those baggy clothes we talked about, right?” Juvia nodded. “He is a sixteen-year-old teenager boy and he’s about to see his girlfriend in just her bathing suit? You _are_ getting some looks, alright.”

Juvia felt her cheeks get warmer. “Lucy-san!”

“What?” Lucy crossed her arms under her breasts. “I understand, having a creep staring at you is uncomfortable and awful, but trust me when I say that when it’s the guy you are in love with and he is looking at you with that stupid expression on his face, it’s different. _Very_ different.”

“What if… what if he doesn’t like what he sees?” Juvia asked.

“He liked you without seeing what is underneath your clothes, right? He’ll keep liking you after.” Lucy shrugged. “If he doesn’t, he doesn’t deserve you. But it’s _Gray_ and it’s _you_. I say go for it, I have shorts that would look great on you, but it’s up to what you want.”

Juvia looked at her reflection again, biting her lower lip. She could try it and if she didn’t feel comfortable, all she had to do was change back.

“Alright.” Juvia nodded.

**#**

Juvia took a few calming breaths while she followed Lucy towards the living room where the others were already waiting for them. In the end she had chosen to just wear shorts, like Lucy had suggested and seeing that they were going straight to the water, they were shirtless, just wearing their bikini tops.

After putting her hair in pigtails, Juvia nodded to her friend and they went downstairs, but Juvia was getting nervous with each step.

“Don’t fret.” Lucy said while looking over her shoulder. “You look great.” Incapable of speaking, Juvia just nodded and they stepped inside the living room. “Sorry for the delay. We can all go to the beach now.”

Not one of their friends looked at her weird, just nodded and they were all smiling as they followed Lucy to the side door that supposedly lead them to the beach.

Gray, though… Gray was glued to his spot, looking at her with wide eyes and a bit of a blush on his cheeks and Juvia felt her heart beat faster. How about that? Lucy was right, it was different.

He looked _so_ handsome too, with just his own shorts and shirtless. Juvia had known he was a fit guy, but seeing the defined abs and imagining them were two different things.

“Shall we go?” Juvia asked quietly taking a few steps towards him and Gray blinked, as if she had just brought him back.

“Yes.” He whispered and then cleared his throat. “ _Yes,_ we should go.” Gray said, much more like himself and nodded, pointing towards the door the others had gone through. “I’m right behind you.”

“Alright.” Juvia was about to start walking when she decided to step closer to him and give him a light peck on the lips. He was surprised, but not displeased. “Okay, we can go now.” She started to walk her way to the door and she could hear him a few steps behind her, muttering something under his breath and she smiled to herself.

**#**

Two days later, Juvia was feeling very frustrated with Gray.

Every time they were about to get on their own or she was going to give him a kiss, he slipped away from her and she didn’t like it at all. He was acting so weird she was starting to think she had done something wrong but she needed to ask him what it was because she had no clue whatsoever what that was about.

So, while Gray was upstairs and the others decided to go to the beach, Juvia had told them she was going to take a nap and as soon as they were gone, she walked up the stairs.

He was leaving his room when she caught him by the hand and pulled him inside her room, closing the door behind them.

“Juvia, what-?” Gray asked, confused but the next minute Juvia had her arms around his neck, pulling him down and kissing him, not at all like the other sweet times she had been the one who started it.

The blunette sighed in relief when Gray kissed her back almost immediately; she had been afraid he didn’t want anything to do with her anymore. Apparently that was not it.

Gray was leading her back and she only knew why when she felt the back of her knees hit the bed and he gently lowered her to it, his body covering her own and Juvia’s hand were roaming on the exposed skin of his back.

She’d find out about what he was weird about it later, when she wasn’t having a great time snogging the hell out of him.

For the life of her Juvia couldn’t say how long they had been kissing on the bed, just that it felt amazing and she wished it would never end, especially when he kissed her jaw down to her neck and she gasped.

They had reached that far, but while sneaking out in school and properly dressed, having him kiss her neck while there was skin to skin contact and the only thing separating their upper bodies was her bikini top was an entirely different feeling.

She didn’t expect him to bite gently on her clavicle but she gasped with it.

For some reason, Gray froze with the sound and was off from the top of her a second later, getting off the bed, leaving a very confused Juvia lying down.

“ _Shit_.” He whispered over and over again. “I’m sorry, Juvia. I…” He walked from one side to the other, passing his fingers through his hair in a nervous tick. “You kissed me and I just… God _dammit_.”

Juvia sat on the bed, confused. “What are you sorry for?”

“I kind of lost it when you kissed me.” Gray said, as if it explained it all and by Juvia’s expression of confusion, he tried to become clearer. “I knew this was going to happen and I know you are not ready for it and I’m sorry.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Juvia got up from the bed. “What are you talking about?”

He took a step back when Juvia tried to get closer to him so she stayed put, waiting. “Remember when we met?”

Juvia frowned. The first time they had seen each other was at… “The Sorting Ceremony?” She asked, confused.

“No. The first time we talked.” He explained. “You were in the male’s bathroom because your ex had broken up with you? There was a cloud above the stall and it was raining.”

“Oh. You knew it was Juvia?” She was surprised.

“You referred to yourself in third person.” He mumbled. “I knew it was you.”

Still surprised, Juvia asked: “Alright, but what does that has to do with anything?”

“You said he was pressuring you, right? To go further and you didn’t want to?” Confused, Juvia nodded. “I knew that kissing you like this would make me forget about it and I don’t want to be like that scumbag.”

“What?”

“That’s a lot of exposed skin, Juvia.” Gray sighed in defeat, waving his hand towards her. “I’m just human.”

Trying to connect the dots and when she finally did, her cheeks became hot and she supposed her cheeks must’ve been an interesting shade of red, much like Gray’s were at the moment.

“ _Oh_.” She said, lowly. “You weren’t avoiding Juvia because you are mad at her, but because you were afraid of what you would do when we were alone.”

“You thought I was mad at you?” He frowned.

“Yes!”

“Why?”

“You haven’t been alone with me since we arrived.” Juvia pointed out. “Now Juvia knows why.”

They stayed in silence for a moment before Gray cleared his throat. “Well, I’ll be leaving, then.”

Juvia stepped in front of him. “Wait.” She put a hand on his chest to stop him. “You seem to have the wrong idea about all of this.”

“About what?” Gray looked at her in suspicion.

“About you and Bora being similar in any way. Or the circumstances we’re in.” She clarified. “I was a fourteen-year-old girl then, Gray-sama. It’s only been two years since, sure, but Juvia has changed a lot since that day. You never pressured me in any way while he pushed every limit and got mad when I drew a line.” She looked at him for a moment. “Would you have stopped right when we got to the bed if I had asked you to?”

“Of course I would.” He said with a nod. “I would _never_ -”

“Yes, I know.” Juvia put a hand on his cheek and caressed it with her thumb. “Don’t you see? Juvia trusts you, she’s comfortable with you, she’s the one who kissed you in the first place.”

“You don’t know what is in my mind.” He sighed.

“Juvia’s mind is not exactly pure either, Gray-sama.” She admitted, blushing harder. “You look very handsome and without the shirt…” Juvia cleared her throat and pulled her hand away from his cheek. “Juvia has _ideas_.”

“ _Oh._ ”

“Yes, _oh_. You are not the only sixteen-year-old with hormones here.” She muttered. “The point is,” she cleared her throat “in all this time we have been seeing each other, have you ever been soaked to the bone by a rain of Juvia’s making?” Gray shook his head. “That’s right, because Juvia was never uncomfortable being with you. I like kissing you and a few minutes ago that snogging session on the bed was a fabulous thing. Juvia is a big girl, she can take care of herself. If she’s feeling uncomfortable in any way, you’ll know it: I’ll either tell you, you’ll get really wet or get yourself hexed.”

“So… you were not feeling pressured when we were…?” He waved towards the bed and she shook her head. “Will you let me know if you ever get that feeling? Because that’s not my intention at all.”

“Alright. Same request.” She told him and Gray nodded in answer and Juvia smiled, after a moment, he offered her a small smile as well. “So… shall we continue from where we stopped or…?”

“Juvia!”

“ _What_? It was very nice and you seemed to be thinking so too. Besides, you owe Juvia two days’ worth of kissing.” She offered him her hand. “Come on.”

Gray took her hand and Juvia lead them back to the bed, making him seat. She leaned and kissed his lips, pushing him back gently and she ended up on his lap, kissing him.

His hands were curled up in fists and she told him between kisses: “Gray-sama, unless Juvia tells you not to or pushes your hand away, you are allowed to put your hands on her.” She chuckled when he blushed and nodded, putting his hand on her waist. Apparently knowing she could drive him crazy made her bolder.

She would enjoy the feeling as long as it took.

**#**

“We should go meet the others.” Juvia whispered, looking up to Gray. “Juvia said she was going to take a nap but since you didn’t join them at the beach, they will do the math.”

They had been in silence for a while, just enjoying each other’s company. He was lying on the bed while Juvia was next to him, her head resting on his shoulder, her front pressed to his side, an arm across his stomach and a leg thrown over one of his. Juvia was feeling rather comfortable, especially with the feeling of his hand on her lower back, his thumb caressing her skin absent minded circles. If Juvia were a car, she’d be definitely purring.

“Yeah.” Gray sighed in regret. “I guess we should.” He said, yet neither of them made any mention of getting up. “Say, when Gajeel arrives?”

“Tomorrow, around nine or so.” The blunette informed him. “It’s been a while since Juvia saw him, it’s going to be fun.”

“That’s one word for it.” Gray snorted and Juvia chuckled. “I can’t believe it we are going to start our sixth year at Hogwarts in a few days. Just yesterday we were arriving on those little boats.”

“Speaking of boats, Juvia seems to remember _someone_ saying he’d go for a swim with her if she took flying lessons.” She poked on his side and Gray laughed. “Juvia stares death in the face every time she gets on a broom.”

“You are _very_ dramatic; I’m always there when you fly, to catch you if you fall.” He snorted.

“Why are you feeling nostalgic about our first year?” Juvia asked. “Talking about already be on our sixth year…”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged and looked down to her. “Maybe it’s going to be a good year. Now come on, we have to go meet the others and not look like as if we just spent an hour snogging on your bed.”

It was Juvia’s turn to snort, they looked quite a wreck. “Good luck with that.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Narrator: Their sixth year, would not, in fact, be anyone's year._
> 
> Just a little spoiler: yes, we are going to have a very important event that pretty much everyone wants to happen, but it won’t be like anyone is guessing it will be. HAHA Okay, so my spoiler was more like a riddle.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed Lyon and this little deepened in their relationship, we’ll see more next chapter.


	7. Sixth Year – Part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does anyone still reads this? LOL
> 
> I’m a bit unsure of how people will receive this, but I hope it is a good read either way.
> 
> This is a story about Gray and Juvia, so I’m not going into detail about the Triwizard Tournament’s tasks. It will focus more on relationships other than the Tournament. For now. haha

 

When, at the night of the students’ arrival at Hogwarts at their 6th year, Professor Makarov announced Hogwarts was going to hold the Triwizard Tournament, Juvia was confused to what exactly that event was and why people seemed surprised and excited with the prospect of it happening, especially the Gryffindors.

Apparently, Juvia learned, the Triwizard Tournament was a friendly competition between the wizarding schools: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and Durmstrang Institute that dated seven hundred years ago. It was held every five years and it would be hosted by each school in turn, the judges for the Tournament would be the headmasters or headmistresses of the schools.

The champions were chosen by a cup, known as The Goblet of Fire. It would choose a Champion for each school and there would be three tasks to be won.

In the month prior to the arrival of the students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, Juvia had looked it up the Tournament in the library and she was surprised it had existed for almost seven hundred years and it was more dangerous than not.

Juvia was curious to see students from other schools, since she knew there were schools of Magic all around the world, the three participating in the Triwizard Tournament being the oldest, if she was not mistaken.

It made Juvia feel better to know most of her friends wouldn’t be able to participate, but she still didn’t like the idea or the Tournament at all.

She tried to keep it out of her mind by focusing on her boyfriend, who made Juvia a bit nervous. After they returned to Hogwarts the fact that Gray still didn’t want people to know about their relationship, bothered her.

When it was only the two of them or when they were with their closest friends who knew about them, he was fine, a very good boyfriend who didn’t care if she stole a kiss. The moment they were in public, though, they became just friends again and it frustrated her a lot.

She tried to tell herself he just needed time, he was a very private person after all. It still hurt, though.

On October 30th, just before dinner, Professor Makarov got everyone’s attention and announced: “It appears our colleagues have just arrived. As I already told you, the tri-wizard tournament brings together three schools for a series of magical contests. From each school, a single contestant is selected to compete.” He stopped for a moment and looked around the room, his mood darkening. “Now let me be very clear: if chosen you stand alone.” Juvia looked to her right where Gajeel sat, a bad feeling inside her chest and looked back to the Headmaster. “Trust me when I say these contests are not for the faint hearted, but more of that later.” His voice became lighter and rather bubbly, but didn’t shake Juvia’s bad feeling. “For now please join me in welcoming the lovely ladies of the Beauxbatons Academy of magic and their headmistress Madam Laurent.”

Juvia had to crane her neck up to see the group of girls that entered the Great Hall. Their uniforms were in a beautiful shade of blue, Juvia would love to have a uniform like that, with a hat and everything. They walked with poise and chins up in a perfect formation. An older woman walked behind the small group, she had her blonde hair up in a tight bun, worn glasses and had clothes that looked like a sober version of the uniform and in a much darker shade of blue. Juvia assumed that was Madame Laurent, the Headmistress, especially when Professor Makarov greeted her with a kiss on the back of her hand.

Makarov turned his attention to his students and said, loudly: “And now our friends from the north, please greet the proud sons of Durmstrang and the high master Jiemma Orland.”

Having to once again crane her neck, Juvia watched as a group of young men entered the Great Hall, their uniforms were in brown color and seemed to be very warm. They came in singing some song in a foreign language and they all looked so… rough. Some of the girls sighed with the sight and it was understandable, there were some handsome dudes there.

Makarov shook hands with Orland and turned to his students: “Make them feel home, the relationship between our schools are very important to us.”

**#**

Juvia and Gray were lying on a blanket on the floor, per usual – he was well aware Juvia enjoyed the Astronomy Tower during warmer nights because she could see the stars and they would go there at least once a week when the weather was nice.

He was kissing her and Juvia just surrendered, enjoying his slow and deep kiss and his weight on top of her, a hand under her skirt on her buttock, bringing her closer to him and both their shirts had their first few buttons opened. Ever since they had talked at Lucy’s beach house about how far they would go, Gray had loosened up a lot and their snogging sessions had been incredibly fun and occasionally hot, like at that moment.

The blunette panted and gave him a few pecks on the lips as they tried to get their breaths back. Gray always stopped himself before they were too lost into each other to stop, neither of them was ready to go further, yet.

Pushing himself off her, Gray lied down next to Juvia and she snuggled closer to him. His eyes were closed and Juvia blushed, hiding her face on his chest because she was aware he was trying to calm himself, like he usually did whenever they were too enthusiastic about their snogging sessions.

“If the Tournament were to happen next year, I could put my name on the Goblet.” He told her and Juvia looked up. He had a hand caressing her side from her hips to her ribs and Juvia was quite content with it. “But since I’m still sixteen…”

“Why would you want to put your name on the Goblet?” The blunette asked, curious. “This Tournament is _very_ dangerous.”

Gray looked down to her. “It is, but that’s the point. It’s about beating the tasks, just being a Champion means you are a great wizard, imagine _actually winning_ , you know?”

Juvia thought for a moment and quietly nodded. She could understand the desire to win, to show how talented they were and to give their school the title. It would be a slap on the face of many people, if she won.

“Even so, do you know why we haven’t had a Triwizard Tournament since _1792_? Juvia looked it up: it was because one of the tasks was to catch a _cockatrice_. Remember that from Care of Magical Creatures? A cockatrice resembles a rooster with a lizard's tail, like a crocodile? Well, it escaped, went into a rampage and injured three judges.”

“Really?” Gray raised an eyebrow.

“Yes.” She nodded.

“Well, there’s no way for us to put our names – trust me, I tried – so we’re safe of cockatrices for the time being.”

Juvia turned to lie on her stomach, she propped herself on her elbow and felt Gray’s hand on her lower back. “Wait, you _tried_ to put your name?”

“Oh yes, a few times.” Gray shrugged. “Natsu too. Erza is seventeen, so she put hers with no trouble, but we can’t.” He sounded annoyed. “That is unfair.” Juvia pinched his side and he complained. “ _Ouch_ , don’t _do_ that.”

“Don’t put yourself in unnecessary danger.” She told him, stern. “Let’s not mess with luck.”

“I _wasn’t_ successful.” He rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry.”

Juvia huffed in annoyance. “Juvia would like to see if you were the one dating a Gryffindor who likes to put himself in dangerous situations and _not_ worry.”

Gray chuckled. “I’m content with a Slytherin who puts herself in as much danger as I do, thank you.”

Fighting her need to smile, Juvia said: “Juvia has no idea of what you are talking about.”

“ _Of course_ you don’t.” Gray rolled to be on top of her once more. “May I remind you that you were part of Professor Jose’s Dueling Club?” He kissed her lips lightly and then her jaw, down to her neck. “And that you go swimming every week on a Lake filled with magical creatures?”

“That is safe.” Juvia whispered, her hands on Gray’s back, trying to pull him closer to her.

“ _Sure it is_.” She felt the puff of air on her skin when he laughed. “Just admit it that you like danger as much as I do.” He kissed the hollow of her throat and Juvia shuddered.

“Maybe.” She answered, his lips on her cleavage and she couldn’t take it anymore so she pulled him up for a kiss. “We just have five more minutes before we need to leave.” She panted.

Gray nodded, their lips almost touching again. “Let’s make it count.”

**#**

Juvia sat next to Gajeel just as the lights were dimmed, the Great Hall was full as everyone was curious to know the Triwizard Champions. She thanked Merlin most of her friends were either out of school or younger than seventeen; like she told Gray, she didn’t want them putting themselves in unnecessary danger.

“I thought you weren’t coming.” Gajeel whispered as Makarov started to speak about the Tournament.

“Couldn’t miss it.” She told her friend. “Everyone is curious on who’s gonna represent us.”

Gajeel snorted. “It’s gonna be a fucking Gryffindor and we’ll have to cheer for them.” He smirked. “I hope it’s a muggle-born or a half-blood so some of these bastards can just eat it.” Juvia giggled and she looked towards the Gryffindor table to find her boyfriend and her friends focused on what their Headmaster was saying and she couldn’t tell how relieved she was he wasn’t able to enter the Tournament.

“…and now, the Goblet will tell us who will participate.”

Juvia’s eyes widened as Makarov slowly put his hand on the Goblet, its blue fire turned red and a paper flee up. It was actually a beautiful thing to see. Makarov took the flying paper and said, with a strong voice.

“The Durmstrang champion is: Sting Eucliff!” The boys from the Institute cheered and Juvia saw the blonde man get up, proud and with a smirk on his face as he received pats on the back. The students from the other schools also applauded, most of them had seen Sting around.

Sting shook Makarov’s hand and the older man pointed to where Sting would need to go to wait for the other Champions and the moment he was out of the room, the blue fire turned red again and another paper flew.

“The Champion for Beauxbatons is Kagura Mikazuchi.” The table with the Beauxbatons’ ladies cheered in happiness and the Champion got up from her place, expressionless and chin raised. Juvia instantly knew she was a tough woman.

Makarov shook her hand and sent her the same direction he had sent Sting and the Goblet’s fire turned red again and everyone was on the edge of their seats, it was time to know who would represent Hogwarts.

The Headmaster took the paper and read with a smile on his face. “The Hogwarts Champion is Erza Scarlet!”

Juvia and Gajeel cheered – they didn’t care if the rest of the Slytherins just clapped – Erza was their friend. Erza was a magnificent witch and she would do well, make Hogwarts proud.

She watched as Erza got up, both Natsu and Gray offered their hands and she took them, both looking very proud of their friend.

Erza walked towards Makarov and shook his hand before taking the same path. “We now have our three champions!” He said loudly to calm the cheers down. “But in the end only one will go down in history. Only one will hoist this chalice of champions, this vessel of victory: the tri-wizard cup!”

Everyone ‘awed’ when the cup was revealed, it was beautiful but the cheering stopped when the Goblet’s fire turned red once more.

Makarov frowned when he saw another paper fly out of it and there was a mortal silence in the Hall as the Hogwarts’ headmaster took the paper in hand and whispered: “Natsu Dragneel.”

Being one of the few who had heard him, Juvia’s eyes widened and she looked towards the Gryffindors and apparently, Natsu had heard his name as well and he looked as confused as everyone else in the room.

“Natsu Dragneel!” Makarov said, loudly and that time everyone else heard it. “ _Natsu Dragneel_!” This time, Makarov seemed angry.

Lucy whispered something to her boyfriend and Natsu got up, utterly confused, walking towards the older man, who gave him the paper and pointed to where the others had gone.

A Slytherin, she couldn’t identify who, yelled: “He’s a cheat! He’s not seventeen!” The Headmasters from the schools followed the students and the teachers stayed to control the students.

After that, the whole Hall was a mess, people talking, protesting, getting up from their benches, including Gajeel and Juvia, who went straight to their friends and Juvia noticed her boyfriend hissing something at Lucy, who all but yell back.

“…bloody know, Gray! Now shut up about it, for Merlin’s sake.” Lucy scolded her friend, who made a sour face, crossed his arms over his chest. The blonde sighed in relief when she saw some of her friends from other houses come their way. She hugged Levy first, who arrived before Juvia and then her. “I have no idea what is going on. He-”

She was interrupted by Professor Gildarts’ voice. “Everyone, go to your Common Rooms.” People started to complain, but he shut them. “Right now.” He rarely used that tone and the room quieted. “We are going to figure it out what happened but everyone needs to leave.”

Juvia glanced at Gray, who was looking angrier and angrier by the second and all she wanted was to talk to him, but Professor Gildarts was already sending people away.

“We can all talk tomorrow when we have talked to Natsu.” Lucy reassured them and Juvia felt Gajeel tugging on her hand, Gray glanced at her and gave her a nod and Juvia nodded slightly back.

“What in the bloody hell just happened?” Gajeel whispered when they were going with the rest of the Slytherin down to the dungeons. “I thought only people older than seventeen was allowed to put their names.”

“Juvia too.” She whispered back. “Gray-sama had told Juvia they had tried to put their names, but couldn’t.”

“The spell was too strong, I tried too.”

“ _What?_ ” Juvia’s voice was loud enough that some people looked their way. “You too? Merlin, you and Gray-sama are going to be the death of Juvia one of these days.”

“The thing is, it’s bloody weird and something’s bound to happen, but I don’t know what so keep your guard up, Juvia. I will too.” He looked down to his friend. “We are close to them and we might be involved in whatever is happening. Hell, you are dating Natsu’s best friend.”

“Shhh.” No one seemed to hear, thankfully. “No one knows that, so don’t worry.”

“People will notice soon, but the point is, let’s be extra careful.” He told her and Juvia nodded. She could feel in her gut something was coming, she just didn’t know what.

**#**

Gray was already there by the Lake when Juvia arrived. Before going to bed, Juvia wrote in a piece of paper they should meet and she knew he had read it when the words disappeared and new ones appeared, saying _“Our spot by the Lake by 9”_. Levy had enchanted that paper – she was quite a clever one – so they could communicate, since they didn’t share a communal room to be together.

He looked up when he heard her approach and got up, allowing her to put her arms around him and he searched her lips for a sweet ‘hello’ kiss.

“Good morning.” She whispered.

He snorted softly. “Yeah.”

Juvia frowned with his answer but decided to ignore. “So, how is Natsu-san?”

“ _Natsu_.” Gray said between gritted teeth. “He put his name on the Goblet somehow and he’s not telling. Not even me. We tried together and failed, but he managed and…”

Now that didn’t sound right. “Gray-sama, Juvia doesn’t think he was expecting his name to be drawn at all. She was one of the first to see his expression and he was confused.”

Gray looked at her and narrowed his eyes. “Are you taking _his_ side?”

Juvia’s eyes widened and she put her hands on his cheeks. “Gray-sama, this isn’t about sides and if it were, Juvia would _always_ be in _yours_. Do you really think Natsu-san would put his name and didn’t tell you?”

“Now you just sound like Lucy.” Gray groaned in annoyance but didn’t step away from her. “But she is biased.”

“Juvia is _not_.” The blunette told her boyfriend. “It really felt as if he didn’t know…”

“Argh, I hate not knowing.” Gray took a step away from her and started to walk like a caged tiger, from one side to another. “A part of me wants to believe he had nothing to do with it, the other is just so fucking angry at him.”

“Go talk to him.” Juvia suggested. “You share a room, it’s not going to be very hard to…”

Gray hesitated. “We did… Last night.” He scowled. “He said things, I said things. I don’t think we are on speaking terms right now.”

The Slytherin sighed. “Gray-sama…”

“Look, it’s fine.” He told her a bit on the rude side but she didn’t take personally – he had just fought with his best friend and was in a mood. “I just need to stop thinking about it for now. _Everyone_ will be asking me shit about Natsu and I just need to take a moment to not hear that.”

_‘So stubborn’_ , Juvia thought with a sigh, _‘but if he wanted distraction, Juvia could give it to him.’_

Knowing almost no one walked that way, especially that early and she really doubted someone from the Durmstrang ship was out and looking their way, she walked in front of him, pulled him down to a kiss she instantly turned hot, arms around him, flushing their bodies together as much as she could, his own arms and she kissed him until he groaned into her lips and she had to breathe.

“Is _this_ distraction good enough?” She asked, panting.

“Oh, yes.” Gray nodded and kissed her once again.

**#**

One week later and Natsu and Gray were still silent towards one another and they were unbearable, Gray was always in a mood when they met and the moment she brought up the subject of Natsu, he’d grab her and kiss her until she was melting in his arms and forgot all about what she wanted to speak to him about.

“Natsu is the same.” Lucy said as she and Juvia sat outside under a tree – it was still warm enough to not need their scarves and mittens – huffing in annoyance. “We are right and they want to shut us up.”

“And they manage to.” Juvia’s cheeks color a bit and so does Lucy’s, who cleared her throat.

“Yes.” She nodded. “But the thing is, they know they have to talk and none wants to give the first step and it’s making them feel like shite.” Lucy sighed. “They are best friends. The three of us are friends and each has a different bond with each other, but those two… they really _are_ best friends and being apart is making both sad.”

“They are _so_ sad.” Juvia nodded. “They try to hide it, but… This week Gray-sama learned a new spell Juvia taught him and he said he had to show it to- and then he caught himself just in time.”

“Anyone can see they need each other.” Lucy said and before she could say anything else, the girls heard their names being called at the same time.

They looked up and saw Gray standing and a few feet away, Natsu, neither acknowledging the other.

“Lucy, come on.” Natsu told his girlfriend. “You said we needed to study.”

“Juvia, we should finish that parchment for Professor Polyuska.”

Lucy and Juvia looked at each other and slowly, they got up, gathering their things and they walked towards their boyfriends until Lucy stopped Juvia before they could split when she saw Gray and Natsu give each other nasty looks.

“You know what?” Lucy said. “We are all going to study and finish that parchment anyways, we will go together.” Juvia frowned with her friends’ words, but went with it and just nodded in agreement – it made sense, after all.

“Lucy, you know-” Natsu started to say between his teeth but his girlfriend interrupted.

“I know you two are being two pig-headed bloody morons who need to talk and won’t because of stupid pride.” She looked at Gray and back to Natsu. “Juvia and I are friends and we are going to study together and you two are welcome to join if you are friends again. You going to resolve this little stupid fight _today_.” She told them, stern, scolding like a mother would. “We will be at the Great Hall when you two resolve this.” She took Juvia’s hand and looked at them, while both looked baffled with her statement. “ _Today._ ”

Juvia let herself be dragged by the Gryffindor and when she met her boyfriends’ eyes, she hesitated but nodded her agreement to Lucy’s words, which made Gray’s eyes widen.

The last vision she had of the two, was of them looking at each other, serious, before she and Lucy got inside the castle.

**#**

“What the _bloody hell_ did you two do?” Lucy said and Juvia, who was gathering her things after finishing her parchment, looked up to the Great Hall’s entrance and her heart almost stopped with the sight.

Gray and Natsu entered the Hall, clothes unruly, dirty, their faces red and getting purple. They clearly had a physical fight.

“We’re cool now.” Natsu told his girlfriend who walked their way and Juvia wasn’t too far behind, touching the swelling on his cheekbone.

“Turned out we just needed to punch each other a few times to get somethings straight.” Gray snorted and when Juvia tried to touch his nose – which had a cut – he whispered. “We’re in public.”

Juvia tried not to show how much those words hurt her but she said, loud, so people could hear her. “Juvia is going to care for a _friend_ no matter if you want or not, Gray-sama.” She touched the nose and he hissed. “What were you two _thinking?_ ”

“Hey, you two were the ones who gave the ultimatum.” Natsu shrugged.

“We were going to use our wands but things could get out of control…” Gray nodded.

“So you two decided to punch each other like barbarians instead of use your freaking words?” Lucy hit each of them on their shoulders.

“ _Ouch!_ Hey, you talk about not using violence and then hit us?” Gray asked.

“It seems the only way you two will listen!” Lucy was furious and Juvia wasn’t too far behind. They didn’t have to hurt each other, for Merlin’s sake! “Come on, let’s go see Polyuska. She’ll stop the swelling and blood.” She looked to Gray’s nose and Lucy got her bag from the desk and started to lead her boyfriend away.

Juvia took away her parchment and quill and put on her bag while Gray waited and once they were moving out, she felt his hand on her lower back, which he removed after a few moments until he noticed where they were. Her heart ached for the day where they didn’t have to hide their relationship.

She frowned when she felt as if someone was watching her so she looked behind, scouting the Great Hall and at the desk designated for the Durmstrang students, she saw the beautiful long haired blonde man looking straight at her and she frowned, but let it slide when his attention returned to his friend – perhaps he was just curious about the altercation.

Juvia shrugged it off and went with her boyfriend to the infirmary.

**#**

The first task had been stealing a golden egg from a dragon. Juvia had never seen a dragon before and seeing four in a space of a few hours, she was terrified of them, especially when one of them escaped to chase Natsu around when he had used a spell to summon a broom to fly away.

Gray had given the idea while Wendy, their young friend, had given him a potion to stop him being sick and it had worked, thankfully. Natsu had survived the first task and Gray sneaked out the party to meet her quickly, celebrating – she couldn’t very well get in the Gryffindor Common Room and she was happy to see his wide smile she didn’t care. They shared a few kisses and Juvia told him to go back and she returned to the Slytherin Common Room and shared some fire whiskey with Gajeel, who told her he had kissed Levy earlier that day. Finally.

A few days after the First Task, the news of a Ball stirred the castle and Juvia couldn’t contain herself with her excitement. Going to a Ball with _Gray?_ That was a dream coming true! She was sure they would out their relationship then.

She was walking alone on the corridor one afternoon when she had a free time, going towards the bathroom when she saw someone catch up and walk by her side and she was surprised to see a Durmstrang student, the one with long blonde hair tied in a small ponytail by a large, dark band tied close to the end and looking absolutely _pretty_. Her Gray-sama really didn’t like him, he said all the conflicts they had with Durmstrang he, Rufus Lore, pissed Gray off.

“Hello.” He said, his accent not as heavy as she expected.

“Uh… hi.” Juvia replied, confused, and stopped walking. “Can Juvia help you?”

“Ah, Juvia. Such a beautiful name.” He smiled, charming all the way and were Juvia not dating Gray, she would’ve melted. “I have seen you around, Miss Juvia. You are hard to miss.” He pointed to the pigtails she was wearing that afternoon. “Such a beautiful and rare shade of blue in a much more beautiful girl is difficult to ignore.”

She didn’t want to, but she was sure her cheeks got red. “Thank you, Lore-san-”

“Rufus, please.” He interrupted.

“Rufus-san.” She conceded. “But… Juvia is confused to why you stopped her.”

He took a step closer to her, his dark green eyes sparkling beautifully. “Well, Miss Juvia, the Yule Ball is in just a week and I was wondering if you’d consider going with me.” To say she was surprised was an understatement and he chuckled with her expression. “This is to promote a good relationship between schools, isn’t it? What’s better than going to the Ball together?”

Juvia was still surprised but she gathered her wits quickly. “Well, Rufus-san, thank you for asking, but Juvia has a boyfriend-”

“Gray Fullbuster, isn’t it?” He asked and Juvia stilled.

“Juvia doesn’t know what you are talking about.” She cleared her throat.

“Oh, you are still keeping it a secret? I have seen from the boat a few mornings you two by the lake.” He asked, curious. “Don’t know why to hide but you must have your reasons.” Rufus shrugged. “Since you two are secretive about it, has he asked you to go with him yet?” Her expression must’ve been answer enough because Rufus nodded. “I see he hasn’t.”

“I didn’t think he would need to.” Juvia told him, cold.

He bowed his head slightly. “Of course. I’m sorry for intrude. If you _do_ need a date for the Ball, I will be here, Miss Juvia.” He took her hand and kissed it before he left and Juvia was more than confused.

He wasn’t right. Her Gray-sama would take her to the Yule Ball.

Right?

**#**

The next day when they teamed up to write a parchment during Potions, Juvia asked casually. “About the Yule Ball…”

“Oh, I’m taking Erza to the ball.” Juvia’s whole body froze and she looked at him in disbelief, but he kept on writing his answer on his parchment without noticing her reaction to the news. “No one knows about us beside our closest friends; going together would defeat the purpose of hiding, plus, she needs to take someone people know is just her friend, otherwise rumors might start.”

Juvia couldn’t believe in what she was hearing. Gray was going to the ball with _Erza_ instead of with _her_ and didn’t seem concerned at all about how Juvia was going to react to it. Did he even consider taking _her_ , the girl he has been with for the past few months?

“I’m done.” Gray told her. Still a bit dazed, Juvia nodded and stood up, walking towards Polyuska and giving her assignment, followed by Gray. She got her bag and rushed outside the class – she needed some time so she could try to process what Gray had just told her – she could feel something she hadn’t for years: a cloud forming and she was trying to fight it off the best she could. Thankfully her Common Room was already at the dungeons “You are walking too fast.” Gray said from a bit behind her, but Juvia didn’t slow down. Her eyes were burning – she knew crying was eminent and she _really_ didn’t want him to see it. “Juvia, slow down.”

“Juvia’s going to her Common Room.” She mumbled without turning his way and was about to turn in the direction of the room when she felt Gray grab her wrist.

“What? Are you okay? We have around twenty minutes before…” He was cut off by her.

“Did you even _consider_ taking me to the Yule Ball?” Juvia asked, trying to contain herself.

“What?” He frowned. “We are hiding this, remember?”

“Because _you_ want it hidden.” Juvia told him. “And you are taking Erza-san instead?”

“She commented something about needing someone to take her and I volunteered. She knows we are hiding our relationship, so it made sense.”

“ _It made sense_?” She repeated in disbelief. “You are going to the Yule Ball with _someone else_.  You wouldn’t care if Juvia went with someone else?”

“Not really. We have friends you can go with.” Gray shrugged. “I know it’s me you are dating; some stupid ball won’t change anything.”

Juvia sighed. “Of course you’d think that.”

He frowned. “What does _that_ mean?”

“Nothing, it’s fine.” The Slytherin shook her head. “Juvia needs to go.”

“I’ll see you tonight?” Gray asked.

Usually Juvia would jump at any opportunity to spend more time with Gray but not that night, she was too sad her boyfriend didn’t want to take her to the Yule Ball and she’d be an awful company.

“No.” She told him and Gray was clearly confused, knowing she always looked for excuses to be with him. “Juvia thinks she will sleep early.”

“Oh.” He frowned again and then asked, concerned, when she took a step back. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, of course, Gray-sama.” Juvia nodded and tried to smile, but she felt the cloud was just a few moments to be formed. “See you tomorrow.”

“Sure.” Gray’s frown deepened.

Juvia practically ran to the Common Room, where she sat by the corner of it and started to cry, the cloud forming above her head and then her tears were mixed with the rain for a while. Most people who got inside the Common Room and knew her history, ignored her, the newest members were confused but when Gajeel arrived and saw her, he took purpose steps in her direction.

“What did _he_ do?” Gajeel asked, already angry. “You haven’t make it rain like that since you fell in love with him.” He stepped under the cloud, kneeling in front of her and getting wet, but didn’t seem to mind. “Juvia?”

She told him quickly what had happened and Gajeel cussed. “Daft son of a bitch. Even _I_ know that was a dick move.” Gajeel sighed and pulled her from the couch so he could sit and put her on his lap, where she curled around him, still crying, hiding her face on the crook of his neck – he helped the rain stop like that ever since they were kids, that’s why there was a rumor about them being romantically involved. “Do you want me to hex him? Punch him?” She shook her head and he sighed. “What can I do, then?”

“Just… let’s stay like this for a minute.” He hummed his agreement and they stayed in silence for a few moments, the rain fading slowly until it was completely gone and so were her tears. “Do you think…?”

“Hm?”

“Do you think he’s… ashamed?” She asked in a whisper.

“Ashamed?”

“Aside from being a Slytherin, Juvia is a mudblood, his family was an old pure-blood one.” She told him. “He is the last Fullbuster, Juvia was born muggle.”

Gajeel raised his eyebrow. “Oh, if it’s _that_ , you will not stop me to fucking hex his ass.” He growled. “But you have to ask him, Juvia. Remember when I assumed Levy would never forgive me? Not only she did, but I’m taking her to the Ball. You were right then, talking helped and you need to do that with your boyfriend.”

Juvia giggled despite of herself. “Who would’ve thought one day you would be the one to give Juvia advise?”

He snorted. “The world must be close to ending.”

She smiled and kissed his cheek. “Thank you. Juvia will talk to him after the ball. Now, there’s not much use. Juvia can’t tell him to break his promise to Erza-san less than a week for the Ball.”

“You are not going, are you?” Gajeel asked with a sigh.

“Probably not.” She shrugged. “Juvia will talk to the girls tomorrow.

“You do that.” He nodded. “Now dry your mess and me too, I’m soaked. Stupid woman making rain inside the castle because of a daft dude.” Juvia giggled, her friend’s harshness always made her feel better.

**#**

“That bloody moron.” Cana’s reaction of Juvia’s tale about Gray’s reasoning for going with Erza to the Ball. “I swear to god, Gray is the thickest headed man alive.”

“I think he shares the title with some other men we know.” Lucy snorted.

“I will have a word with Erza. What _was she thinking_ when she said yes?” Cana was furious. “Gray too, oh, I will.”

“Please, don’t.” Juvia begged. “It’s who he is.”

“Oh, I know it’s who he is: _a moron_.” The brunette said. “You should’ve told him to fuck off.”

“Juvia couldn’t.” She sighed.

“Do you want me to?” Cana asked. “I’ll gladly do it.”

“I volunteer to yell at him as well.” Lucy told Juvia. “I swear to god I tried to educate that boy but he has such a thick head.”

“Miss Juvia.” A beautiful deep voice said and Juvia looked behind herself to see Rufus Lore, in his Durmstrang brown uniform, long blonde hair tied in a small ponytail by a large, dark band tied close to the end as usual. “Miss Heartfilia, Miss Alberona.”

“Hey.” Cana greeted and frowned.

“Hello.” Lucy was also confused.

“It is a nice afternoon, isn’t it?” He said casually and the three girls nodded. “May I speak with Miss Juvia for a moment?” Both girls looked at the blunette, who nodded. “Marvelous.”

Juvia took a few steps closer to the blonde young man, who took a few steps back to have more privacy – as much privacy as one can get in a situation like that. “Hello, Rufus-san.”

“Have you considered my offer?” Oh, he was a charmer, through and through, smiling like that and looking at her with those deep green eyes.

“Juvia has told you she can’t.” The blunette told him again. “She has-”

“A boyfriend, I know.” Rufus nodded. “But as far as I heard, he is to attend the ball with one of Hogwarts’ Champions: Miss Erza or I was misinformed?”

Reluctantly she agreed. “You weren’t misinformed.”

“Who are going with, then?”

“No one.” She sighed. “Perhaps Juvia won’t go at all. She doesn’t feel like going.”

He frowned. “Now _that_ won’t do. A pretty girl missing a ball because her boyfriend is too stupid to appreciate her? I was going to do this to annoy Gray Fullbuster but now I can’t let you miss it.”

Juvia offered him a small smile. “Thank you, but-”

Cana’s voice interrupted Juvia. “Excuse me. I was overhearing on purpose so let me ask you something.” She stepped closer to the duo and was staring at the blond man. “Have you asked Juvia to go with you to the Yule Ball?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“She is a pretty girl, of course I would-”

Cana snorted. “Try again.”

He eyed her for a moment. “To annoy Gray Fullbuster.”

The brunette smirked. “Oh, my friend. You couldn’t have appeared in a better moment.”

**#**

When Gray asked with whom she was going to the ball with, Juvia told him she was going with someone Cana found for her and he shrugged it off. He was sure a ball wouldn’t change a thing about them but he had another thing coming.

She shouldn’t have left Cana set her to go with Rufus, but before she could say anything, they were already shook on it and Juvia’s date was the Durmstrang boy, who, strangely enough, wasn’t bad company during the few minutes they had spent together for the past few days.

He was very charming and could be funny, so spending a couple of hours with him at the ball wouldn’t be too much of a chore. She’d much prefer to go with Gray, but since he wasn’t available… At least she’d have good company.

Juvia looked herself in the mirror and even though she was supposed to feel bad for not going with Gray, she looked the prettiest she ever had in her life. Lucy’s dress fit her like a glove.

Long and pink and loose form her waist down, a darker pink bow under her breasts; the fact that her cleavage would be very noticeable bothered her a little but the girls told her it only enhanced her assets, so it made her feel better. Her hair was in a side braid turned into a bun, her lips were rosy with lipstick and there was just a bit of dark shadow on her eyelids to enhance her blue eyes. Plus the long gloves to match, Juvia really did feel beautiful.

She felt like a princess, as she had dreamed of when she was a lonely child at her orphanage.

Lucy had left half an hour before because she was needed to enter with Natsu first but the girls went as a group once everyone was done – the Vanishing room had been quite useful – and their dates waited for them at the entrance of the Great Hall.

Finding Rufus had been easy, his blonde hair was easy to spot and he was wearing the formal clothes of his school, a red tux with a red cape with fur over one shoulder and of course he was the most handsome guy around at that moment.

The moment he saw her, his eyes widened at the sight and even though she was happy he clearly thought she looked pretty, she had wanted that reaction from her boyfriend, not him.

“Miss Juvia.” Rufus said, looking her up and down, taking a gloved hand and kissing it. “I am _so_ very glad I insisted on annoying Fullbuster because now I believe I will have the most beautiful girl in this castle in my arm.”

“You flatter me, Rufus-san.” She smiled. “You look very handsome yourself.”

“I know.” He winked and Juvia giggled. “Just let me tell my friends my date has arrived and I will be right back.”

“Of course.” She nodded and saw him leaving.

A few seconds after Rufus’ departure, there was some ruckus and Juvia looked over his shoulder and saw the Champions and their dates. She spotted her Gray-sama in his dark tux, handsome as ever and she couldn’t help it but to smile. She saw the moment he found her, his eyes widened and his mouth opened a bit in shock. Now she knew what felt to have him to see her while she felt beautiful.

Juvia smiled brightly his way and gave him a small wave, which he reciprocated and he even smiled but it faded the moment Rufus was back, touching her shoulder.

“All done. Shall we?” He offered his arm and she took it, glancing at Gray, who’s eyes were widened for another reason entirely, then. “Don’t look at him.” Rufus whispered. “You and I will make him absolutely jealous tonight.”

“Rufus-san-” Juvia looked at him while he escorted her inside.

He chuckled. “Don’t worry, I am in a relationship too, I’m really just doing this to piss him off. It’s fun for me and you get to teach him a lesson.”

“Juvia didn’t want to teach him a lesson.” She told him.

“Your friends do, so let them teach it for you, then.” He smiled and Juvia couldn’t help it but to put a gloved hand over her mouth to hide a giggle. “By the end of the night, he will want the world to know you are his girlfriend.”

**#**

They champions looked so beautiful dancing at the opening of the Ball, even her Gray-sama and Erza looked amazing dancing. She felt jealous, so jealous she wanted to hex her to let go off of Gray, but she knew they were only friends. Yet, she should’ve been the one in his arms, not her.

“Come.” Rufus took her hand when other dancers were allowed to the dancefloor. “Let’s dance.”

“Juvia doesn’t know how to-” She told him, but by then, she was already on the dancefloor, his hand on her lower back and started to move with her along the crowd and she squealed when he picked her up, swirling around himself and putting her on the ground again, making her giggle as they fell into the steps of the dance she didn’t know of. “Oh, Merlin!”

They danced alongside with the others long enough for Juvia to figure out the steps very roughly and she laughed whenever he picked her up but then the music change and Juvia told him she needed to drink something.

Rufus pulled her by the hand to a table and brought them some smuggled fire whiskey. “Oh, that was fun.”

“You were a natural.” He told her.

Juvia smiled and took a few sips of the whiskey. “She isn’t, but thanks for not complaining about Juvia stepping on your toes.”

“Durmstrang men are strong, do not worry.” He took a sip of his beer and leaned closer, asking her to do the same. “Do not look, but your boyfriend is looking this way. So I’m putting my hand over yours in an innocent way so he gets riled up.” He did what he said. “It would help if you giggled as if I said something funny.” He smiled and Juvia couldn’t help it but to do so for real. “Good. He’s staring at me as if he wants to Avada Kedavra my ass, so my night is won, I got what I wanted.” He laughed and that time Juvia laughed as well, gosh, she shouldn’t, it was wrong and perhaps it was the whiskey going up to her head. “Now, let’s make him even more jealous. I imagine before the night ends, you will have a serious conversation.”

“Perhaps it’s time we should.” She sighed. “He wants our relationship hidden, but Juvia wants to shout it from the rooftops.”

“I see.”

“Did your girlfriend had any issue like that?” Juvia asked.

“Boyfriend.” He corrected her. “And yes, he did at first.”

“Why?” She asked. “You are quite a catch.”

“And so are you.” Rufus chuckled. “Johann was afraid I would dump him and then everyone would know we ended things. But then I managed to convince him I loved him and had no plans of letting him go. We finally went public and we’ve been together for two years.”

Juvia smiled sweetly. “Good for both of you. Is he here?”

“No, he’s a year younger so he stayed in Durmstrang.”

“You must miss him very much.” She put a hand over his in sympathy.

“I do.” He sighed. “We write to each other, but it’s not the same.”

“It isn’t.” Juvia agreed. “Now tell me, is he handsome?”

Rufus laughed. “He is. I like beautiful people, inside and out. Man, woman, doesn’t matter. But Johann is the most beautiful person I know. He looks a lot like Gray Fullbuster, actually, except Johann’s hair is brown and his eyes are hazel. Perhaps that’s why I like to bother him so much. And because I liked you so much too.”

“Me?” She was confused.

“You remind me of his kindness. You let your boyfriend go out to a Ball with another woman because it was his wish to hide your relationship for a while and you didn’t have his head for it. Or hers. And for what I could see during out short talks, you are a very kind person. Like my Johann.”

“Thank you.” She was sure blushing.

“Merlin, you look beautiful.” Rufus rested his head on his hand, elbow on the table. “If I didn’t have my Johann, Gray Fullbuster would have serious competition today.”

Juvia laughed. “Gray-sama never has competition.”

“Do not challenge me, Juvia.” Rufus chuckled.

The blunette and the blonde kept talking for a few more minutes before going dancing again, Juvia was glad she had gone. Perhaps letting Cana set her up hadn’t been so bad after all.

**#**

Juvia was on her way to the bathroom to retouch her make-up to make sure she looked presentable still when she felt someone grab her hand and pull her to an empty hall.

“Gray-sama?” Juvia asked.

He stopped, turned around and his face was furious. “What in the bloody hell do you think you are doing?”

Juvia, still confused and had had a glass or four of fire whiskey, tilted her head. “Juvia was going to the bathroom?”

“What? No!” Gray said. “Coming to the Ball with _Rufus Lore_!”

“Oh, _that_.” She finally realized. “He asked and Cana-san said yes.”

“Cana?” He was confused. “Why did you come, then?”

“Because he asked and it wasn’t like she could come with you.” She shrugged, the whiskey was clearly affecting her. “He is nice, though. You should see for yourself.”

“All I could see were his _paws_ all over you all night long.” Gray hissed. “I am going to murder Cana.” Gray started to pace. “You should have told me.”

“Why? You only told Juvia about going with Erza-san when you two already agreed to it.” She shrugged –alright, no more alcohol tonight for her.

“I told you why.”

“And you didn’t ask Juvia if it was alright to her. You didn’t even think of her when you made that decision.” Her eyes watered. “Are you ashamed of me?” Her sudden question made him stop on his tracks – he definitely shouldn’t have drunk that much.

“ _What?_ ”

“You don’t want anyone to know we are dating.” She slurred the words a bit. “Is it because she’s a Slytherin? Or because she’s muggle-born? Juvia knows your family was pure-blood and she’s a mudblood and-”

He looked at her in horror. “Wow, wow, wow. Stop right there. What in the bloody hell are you saying? I never cared for that. Ever.”

“Then why?” Her eyes watered. “Do you know how hard it is not to touch you when we are in public? Or that day when you and Natsu-san fought and you didn’t let Juvia tend to you right away because of what people might think? Tell me why if it’s not shame, because this hurts, Gray-sama. Hurts a lot to be with you but not be able to _be_ with you.”

Gray took a few steps closer to her and put a hand on her cheek. “Juvia, I had no idea it bothered you that much the fact we were hiding our relationship.”

“It does.” Her eyes watered even more. “A lot.”

“ _Fuck._ ” He pulled her to a hug and kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry. Look, I’ve never dated anyone for such a long time and I don’t like people gossiping over my life. People would stare, gossip, say shit about us. People from your house and mine are going to have a lot to say about this. I was trying to avoid that.”

“Juvia doesn’t mean for you to snog the hell out of her at the Great Hall at dinner, Gray-sama.” Juvia told him, still in his arms. “She hates to contain herself when she wants to touch you, or to not give you a peck on the lips in the morning when Juvia sees you, or hold your hands for five minutes.” She whispered. “And about our Houses, Juvia has been ready to face them from day one. They won’t get to us if we don’t let them.”

Gray sighed. “Yeah, you are right. I’m sorry I hurt you and I am sorry I wasn’t the one to bring you to the Ball. Seeing you with _him_ made me realize how stupid I was.”

“It’s alright, Rufus-san was a good date.” She realized she shouldn’t have said that because she was sure the vein on his forehead would pop at any moment. “Sorry. Juvia would’ve loved to be your date tonight much, much, much more.”

“I fucked it up and I am sorry.” He told her. “Can you forgive me?”

Juvia wanted to snort at that: there were just a handful of things she wouldn’t forgive him for. “Yes.” He nodded and kissed her, Juvia surrendered to it rather quickly.

“Go to the bathroom like you planned.” He told her.

“Juvia just wanted to retouch her make-up.” She told him.

“No need to go, then. It looks fine.” Gray grabbed her hand and pulled her back to the Great Hall.

“Uh… Gray-sama.” Juvia tried to untangle her hand from his as they entered the room. “People…”

He didn’t care, just took her to the middle of the dancefloor where many couples were slow-dancing and pulled her against him, starting to dance with her and to her surprise, he leaned and kissed her on the mouth, slowly but sweetly and Juvia could never resist it.

“No more hiding.” He told her as they danced.

Juvia was sure people were staring, gossiping, plotting, whatever, but she didn’t care because she tip-toed and kissed him just because she could. They were not hiding anymore and she couldn’t be happier.

Once they stopped kissing and just danced, Juvia found Rufus in the crowd, she mouthed _‘thank you’_ and with the glass his hand and he raised it her way, mouthing _‘you are welcome’_.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First things first: Juvia’s dress is the same she wears on the cover of **chapter 129** , if you want to look up. Just changed her hair.
> 
> I think Gray and Rufus’ little piss contest could’ve been so much more in canon so I decided to explore it a little and Juvia needed a little push to tell her feelings about dating in the shadows. She’s the type of person who would suffer quiet. Rufus and Cana (for accepting it) gave her the push both her and Gray needed. Gray “let her” go with another guy because he though she either wouldn’t do it or would choose someone like, I don’t know, Warren, to go. He thought there was no threat.
> 
> AND THEN BAM, RUFUS THAT GORGEOUS MAN IS IN THE PICTURE. In your face, Gray. In. Your. Face.
> 
> Also, Erza. I had to make her do something as stupid as asking Gray to leave Juvia behind with no information at all. Sorry if there are any Erza lovers reading this, but it was a dick move I can never forget or forgive. LOL Don’t worry, I also think Gray was a dick for accepting so we’re all good.
> 
> I hope it was a nice chapter.
> 
> Up next: The Houses reactions with a Gryffindor and a Slytherin in a relationship. ;)


	8. Sixth Year - Part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A small chapter with some fluffy moments so we can return to plot next chapter!

The moment she stepped on the corridor that led to the Great Hall, Juvia narrowed her eyes when she spotted her boyfriend talking awkwardly with a girl she didn’t know the name of, but knew she was a Gryffindor a year younger than them. She was pretty, Juvia couldn’t deny it, with her dark curled hair and bright brown eyes, the freckles on her nose and cheeks enhancing her beauty.

The Slytherin took purposeful steps towards her boyfriend and the girl, knowing she was hitting on her boyfriend by the way she was laughing and touching her hair. Juvia saw red when the girl put a hand on his arm and Juvia knew from experience she would find hard defined muscle there.

The moment he saw her, Gray looked relieved and he was asking for help with his eyes. Oh, Juvia was going to help him, alright.

“Good morning, Gray-sama.” Juvia stepped closer to him and tip-toed to kiss his cheek – it was so good to finally do that in the open instead of hiding. “Were you waiting for Juvia?”

“Yes. _Yes_ , I was.” He nodded, happy to make sure Juvia was close enough, he even put his arm around her waist and Juvia smiled at him and then lost it when she looked at the brunette girl, whom had her cheeks red and started to look uncomfortable.

“Hello.” Juvia’s stare was icy cold when she spoke to the girl.

“H-hi.” The girl muttered.

“What were you two talking about?” Juvia asked, looking straight at the girl, whose eyes widened and it was clear the Gryffindor wasn’t feeling very courageous at the moment, not while facing a jealous girlfriend.

“Uh… about quidditch.” The brunette looked down to her feet.

“Crystal here was telling me how disappointing it is we won’t have Quidditch because of the Triwizard Tournament.” Gray cleared his throat.

“Oh.” Juvia nodded. “It is a pity, isn’t it? Juvia was looking forward to cheer for her _boyfriend_.” She emphasized the last word and the girl finally decided it was time to leave.

“So…” She cleared her throat. “I’ll just… go.”

“You do that.” Juvia’s smile was as fake as her tone.

“Thank Merlin she’s gone.” Gray whispered to her. “That girl never spoke to me before and today she’s suddenly a Quidditch fan?”

Juvia snorted. “She wasn’t interested in _Quidditch_ , that’s for sure.” She took a few breaths to calm herself down. “That’s the third girl Juvia saw hitting on you. Two days ago we were slow dancing and kissing at the Yule Ball, why on earth are all these girls suddenly attacking you?”

“Beats me.” He groaned in annoyance before he looked around and seeing no one was at the hall, he leaned and finally kissed her properly and Juvia’s jealousy lessened a little bit when she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “People are crazy.”

“That they are.” She chuckled and pulled him down for another kiss before they heard steps and took a step back – it wasn’t because they weren’t hiding that they needed to snog in public. They waited until a group of older Hufflepuffs entered the Great Hall while snickering at them before Juvia took his hand on hers. “We should go get something to eat too.”

“Yeah.” Gray cleared his throat and nodded, letting her lead them. The moment they entered the Great Hall, many people looked their way, mostly with disdain and Juvia felt uncomfortable with the looks. She was about to bid him farewell for the moment when Gray started to pull her towards the Gryffindor table where many of their friends from different houses were having breakfast. “Come sit with us.”

“Alright.” She muttered and she could hear whispering as she walked. Like they predicted, most people were having trouble accepting there was something going on between the two of them. “Good morning.” She greeted their friends and they greeted her back.

Gray sat next to her and got her some pumpkin juice before he poured some for himself and it was such a thoughtful gesture, she kissed his cheek and besides his cheeks reddening a little, he didn’t complain.

“Guess what.” Cana arrived at the table holding up a flyer and squeezed herself between Wendy and Erza. “Someone went through the trouble to rank Hogwarts’ girls.”

“What do you mean?” Lucy asked, taking a bite of her toast.

“They ranked the prettiest girls of the school.” Cana stole the rest of Lucy’s toast and then looked over the flyer again. “Let’s see…” She snorted. “This list is _so_ predictable: _of course_ first place goes to Erza. It says: _‘Miss Scarlet is the embodiment of the Gryffindor spirit, no wonder she was chosen to be Hogwarts’ Champion. Not only that, she has a beauty that is difficult to match, her abilities as a witch only enhance it. As far as we know, Miss Scarlet is still single, but we advise whoever wants to make a move, to be very skilled as she is Hogwarts’ Champion for a reason.’_ ” She looked to the red-haired girl who shrugged. “No surprise there. ‘Embodiment of Gryffindor spirit’, _so_ cheesy.” Cana snorted. “Second place…” She looked at the paper again and then up to their friends, rolling her eyes. “Lucy. Again, no surprise. They added: _‘Miss Heartfilia has the classic beauty most of us look for but rarely find. From an old magical family, this witch is not only beautiful but really talented as we can all see in the articles of her self-publishing school paper. Brains and body, what a combination! But she’s off the market, fellas. Her boyfriend is none other than Hogwarts’ second Champion, Natsu Dragneel.’_ ”

“I’m happy they didn’t just include the beauty thing and actually mentioned my paper.” She gasped. “Maybe more people will read it now.” The blonde beamed and gave a peck on her boyfriend’s lips and Natsu smiled, glad she was happy.

“Third place is… oh, now _that_ is interesting.” Cana raised an eyebrow. “Third place is Juvia.”

The Slytherin, who was getting ready to eat a biscuit, froze and looked up to Cana, completely confused while Gray, who had been chewing his sandwich, started to cough – Natsu started to slap him on the back a little too enthusiastically.

“ _What?_ ” Juvia frowned.

“You are ranked third on the pretty girls list.” Cana clarified. “Did not see that coming. Not because you aren’t hot, but because I thought people didn’t like you because you are dating Gray. And some because you are a Slytherin.” She shrugged.

Gray had finally stopped coughing and took the paper from Cana’s hand to read what they had wrote about Juvia.

“ _‘Miss Lockser has been noticed for years but at the Yule Ball we all could see a different side of her; such a beauty was hidden in plain sight. She is one of the most talented witch in sixth year and one of the most beautiful of the school. It’s unconfirmed, but it appears this Slytherin is dating none else than Gray Fullbuster, a Gryffindor. Can you smell the drama?’_ ” Gray looked up. “‘ _Unconfirmed’_? What do they mean unconfirmed?” Gray frowned. “We’ve been together for _months_. We danced and did way more than that at the Yule Ball together for everyone to see.”

Cana raised an eyebrow. “She went with Durmstrang’s hot stuff, though-” Juvia cringed at that – her Gray-sama _really_ didn’t like the reminder.

“ _Yes_ , Cana, I remember, thank you.” Gray snapped at her. “This is bullshit.” Gray gave the flyer back to Cana. “Why are people doing stupid ranks like this one?” He muttered angrily.

“Someone is pissy his girlfriend is considered one of the most beautiful girls of the school.” Natsu pretended to whine and Gray sent him a dirty look. “Come on, dude, it’s not a big deal.”

“Unconfirmed, Natsu.” Gray hissed.

“Gray-sama.” Juvia grabbed his hand under the table and he looked her way. “Juvia wasn’t expecting to be on the list and this means nothing at all. How many people will read this?”

“Everyone had one when I got it.” Cana sang.

“You are just _so_ helpful today, Cana.” Gray stared daggers at her.

“Why, thank you, Gray.” The brunette said sarcastically and rolled her brown eyes. “But really, just hang out together, give a kiss or two and mention to three or four random people about your girlfriend and word will spread that this is serious.” She shrugged.

Gray groaned in annoyance and Juvia bit her lower lip – she wanted their relationship to be out in the open, but she didn’t want him feeling bad because of it.

“Maybe… maybe it wasn’t a good idea for everyone to know?” She asked him.

Gray frowned and looked at her, seeing her doubting the reveal of their relationship. He shook his head. “It was a good idea, it’s just people are too slow and it pisses me off.”

“Are you sure?” She asked, still unsure.

“I am sure.” He guaranteed and then groaned. “I just need to tell some people about it, let them gossip for a while and it will be fine.”

“Maybe you should start with that girl from earlier.” Juvia said, the ugly feeling returning.

“Maybe I should.” He agreed.

“What girl?” Lucy asked, curious.

“Crystal Hawkins.” Gray told her.

“Oh, _her_.” Lucy recognized the name. “She has had a crush on Gray since her first year.”

“Has she, now?” Juvia narrowed her eyes and glanced at the direction the girl was seated with two of her friends. “Many girls seem to have that same crush.”

“Gray didn’t seem interested in having a relationship at all for a long time.” Cana said and Juvia’s attention went to the brunette. “So the girls didn’t even try to get his attention for years. Now that he has been seen being all cozy with you and they aren’t certain you two are dating, they probably think he’s out for grabs.” Cana shrugged. “They want to get his attention.”

“Good to know.” Juvia said with venom in her voice. “Juvia will deal with them.”

“Alright, Juvia.” Lucy caught her attention and Juvia looked in the blonde’s direction. “Remember: we do _not_ hex girls because they have a crush on our boyfriends, alright?”

“Imagine if Lucy hexed every girl who has a crush on me?” Natsu asked smugly. “When would it end?”

Gray snorted. “Someone is feeling pretty good about himself.”

“Hey.” Natsu pointed his finger at Gray. “This is a real thing.”

“Sure it is.” Gray rolled his eyes and looked at his girlfriend. “I told you he is crazy.”

Natsu heard him and both boys started to argue while the girls looked at each other and rolled their eyes, but smiled quietly, happy the boys were in speaking terms again, and having fun.

**#**

“I am just saying: this is far more dangerous than flying.” Gray told her as he took his pants off, putting it aside and looked over his shoulder.

“It’s not.” Juvia told him, already waiting for him by the Black Lake’s shore.

They finally agreed on when go swimming and even though Gray didn’t like the idea of waking up early on a Sunday morning, there was no way he would be outdone by a Slytherin. And Juvia was wearing a very revealing bathing suit, thankfully to a spell to keep them warm. Also the Second Task of the Tournament apparently was to be held on the Lake and, according to Gray, there was no way he would let Natsu swim there first, not when his own girlfriend was a frequent swimmer there.

Boys and their little pissing contests, it was cute.

“Remember to stun the Grindylows, they are going to be on our right around five minutes in.” Juvia told him and Gray nodded, stepping closer to her. “Sassa knows you are coming and remember: we do _not_ go too near of their colony.” Juvia took his hand and led him towards the water.

“All this time and you haven’t been there?” Gray raised an eyebrow.

Juvia snorted. “Oh, no. If Juvia had gone there without being invited, she wouldn’t have made it to Second Year.”

He frowned. “That’s not something you want to tell someone right before they go face said people who could kill them.”

She raised an eyebrow. “What are Gryffindor’s traits again?”

“Just because I am _concerned_ , doesn’t mean I am a coward.” He rolled his eyes. “I can be smart _and_ brave. We aren’t all adrenalin knuckle heads.”

“Point taken.” She said. “Okay, we have around one hour once Juvia casts the spell.” Gray nodded in understanding. “Keep your wand with easy access at all times, the Giant Squid is usually friendly but do not provoke it and let Juvia handle Sassa. I explained you were coming today and she’s curious about you.”

“Lots of instructions for just a swim.” He said. “When I am flying, my only goal is to not fall while in there” he pointed towards the lake “there are many more things that could kill me but you say _I_ am the crazy one with a death wish.” Juvia rolled her eyes. “I’m just saying: this is _way_ more dangerous.”

“Let’s go.” Juvia chuckled and conjured the bubble around her nose and mouth and then did the same to Gray, since she had more experience with it.

Just as she told him it would happen, the Grindylows attacked them and both students stunned them before they could reach the couple. Annoying little creatures, they were, but dealt with.

Every once in a while Gray would touch her to get her attention so he could show her something curious, like a large fish a few meters away from them and then the large squid peacefully swimming, one of its tentacles clearly greeting them and Juvia waved at it and the blunette instructed her boyfriend to do the same – it was better if he had a friendly relationship with the squid.

Juvia glanced at Gray and she could see he was having a good time and it made her feel good, sharing that with the guy she was in love with.

Just when they were getting closer to the merpeople colony, Juvia halted and Gray did the same. The blunette looked around, searching for Sassa while Gray looked at the colony, curious and in wonder – it was a nice sight.

It didn’t take long for Juvia to spot her merperson friend swimming their way. Juvia touched Gray’s forearm and pointed towards the direction Sassa was coming and Gray’s body tensed for a moment but he relaxed.

Once close enough, Sassa stopped and looked at Gray with her big yellow eyes, assessing the human boy in an unsettling way. Juvia had explained to her the best she could what Gray meant to her the week before.

Gray and Sassa kept their eyes locked – he was doing what she told him to, to not shy away from her scrutiny.

 _“This your mate?”_ Sassa hissed, finally tearing her gaze from Gray to the Slytherin and Juvia nodded. Sassa tilted her head to the side. “ _Too pink.”_ Juvia chuckled when Gray looked at her, annoyed. “ _You are pink too, so it works, I guess.”_

The blunette nodded to let her know it worked indeed. With a nod of her own, Sassa started to swim and both humans followed her for a while, the merperson pointing to somethings for Gray, who seemed very interested on the whole thing.

When it was time they returned to shore, Sassa told Juvia: _“Your mate is strong, I can see it in his eyes.”_ She told her. _“You chose well.”_ Sassa seemed very proud of Juvia.

“I did.” Juvia answered and said her good-byes, promising to return the following week.

Gray was waiting for her and both came up for air at the same time, the charm ending the minute their heads were out from the water.

“What did you think?” Juvia asked, while swimming back to shore.

“That was amazing.” Gray’s grin was huge. “Bloody hell, the bloody squid waved at us! I just spent half an hour swimming around with a _merperson_!”

Juvia chuckled. “Fun, huh?”

“I can see why you keep coming back.” They finally reached shore and Gray took her hand into his. “The colony is very interesting.”

“It is.” Juvia agreed. “Juvia hopes to visit one day.”

“Can your ‘ _mate_ ’ go with you?” He asked, raising an eyebrow and Juvia fell into a fit of giggles.

“If he behaves.”

Gray chuckled. “I’ll let Natsu know about what I saw, it might help out.”

“Juvia already told him everything she could think of, but maybe a fresh pair of eyes is better.”

“I just need to tell him how the Giant Squid waved at me first to make him jealous, _then_ I’ll help him out.” Gray decided and Juvia laughed.

**#**

Juvia arrived at the bedroom she shared with four other Slytherin girls and thankfully they didn’t care enough about her to say anything about it even if they were awake, since they too often arrived way past curfew when they were seeing their own boyfriends.

Earlier that day was the Second Task of the Tournament and Natsu, even though he came out last from the water, he still won because of his bravery so Juvia stayed with her friends for a while and then she and Gray sneaked out to the Astronomy Tower.

Quickly changing into her night clothes, Juvia slipped in her bed and bit her lower lip, recalling a few minutes before when she had been with Gray.

Merlin, being with him was so… so… _amazing_. Whenever they were together, whenever he kissed her, she was lost and that night had been just as great.

They had been kissing for a while when she realized she was pressed against the wall, her legs wrapped around his hips and her hands were under his collar, one on his back and the other unbuttoning his shirt.

Leaving her lips, Gray had returned his kisses to her cleavage, her own shirt had been opened and a few times before he had pushed her bra aside but that night they stopped before that when they thought they heard someone approaching.

They had put their clothes back on its place in a hurry and parted with a kiss, smiling into it and whispering ‘good night’.

She didn’t know about Gray, but she was more than ready to take the next step. To be honest, Gray seemed he would be on board were she to decide to take the next step.

Juvia knew it was just a matter of time before they lost themselves and didn’t stop and she’d rather it didn’t happened in a broom closet or out where anyone could walk in on them. If it were to happen soon, at least she could have some control over it.

It could sound silly to some people, but she wanted it to be special.

Once she decided what to do and had taken the necessary precautions, a few weeks later she asked Gray to meet her on the seventh floor by the left corridor. Juvia was waiting for him, nervous and hoping he didn’t think she was too forward.

Her heart started to beat faster when she heard footsteps. Taking a peek, she confirmed it was indeed her boyfriend before she stepped away from her hiding place.

“Gray-sama.” She whispered and Gray located her, grinning when he saw her, making her stomach get filled with butterflies. They had been dating for nine months and he still made her feel like she did when they shared their first kiss.

“What’s up with meeting here?” Gray asked once he was close enough and then pulled her for a quick kiss. “Are we going to the Come and Go Room?”

“Yes.” She nodded, feeling nervous again.

He nodded. “Life would be much easier if we could use that room all the time. Sadly, we are not the only couple in this castle.”

“Just… stay put for a moment.” She told him and went to walk by the room three times, being as specific as she could inside her mind. Before she went there, she made a list of everything they would need and she went over it, praying the castle’s magic would grant her. Once she was done, the door or the room materialized and Gray went to stand by her side. “Wait.” Juvia opened the door just enough so she could see if it was to her liking and she sighed in relief when it turned out even better than she thought it would. The blunette looked over her shoulder. “Come in.”

“Finally a place we won’t be afraid someone is gonna walk in on us all the time.” Gray got in after her and nodded his approval when he looked around the room. The room was spacious, there was a big bed in the middle of it, lots of lit candles setting a romantic mood and a small gramophone playing one of her favorite songs. “Oh, nice.”

“Do you like it?” She asked.

“Yeah, it’s definitely better than the Astronomy Tower.” He told her and pulled her into his arms to kiss her. “As much as I like to do this anywhere, not on the floor is better.”

Juvia chuckled and pulled him to another kiss before she broke it, taking his hand to lead him towards the bed. She told him to sit and stayed on her feet in front of him and by the way he was acting, like none of it was a big deal, Juvia knew he didn’t know her intentions for the night.

“Gray-sama…” She put her hands on his jaw to make him look up at her, his hands were on her hips as Juvia stood between his legs. “Do you know why we are here tonight?”

He frowned. “Oh, bollocks. Did I forget some special date? You know I’m bad at that.”

“No, nothing like that.” Juvia shook her head and her curls bounced and she found quite endearing how he seemed to be thinking the best way to make it up to her. “We are here for… _privacy_.”

“That is good, I’ve been feeling as if I’m a rare magical creature in display for weeks now. Bloody morons snooping our lives and worse, _judging_ us for being together. Ass faces.” Gray told her, pulling her closer by wrapping his arms around her waist – he was really like a teddy bear when they were on their own, in public not so much. They weren’t hiding their relationship any longer and the consequences, like they knew it would happen, was the very badly concealed prejudice about people from their Houses being together. It felt as if they were five hundred years in the past. “It is nice to have some privacy.”

“It is.” She agreed and leaned to bump her nose on his lovingly and before she could get nervous, she kissed him, gently at first and turning hot after a few moments. Her Gray-sama was a man of action so she decided showing him what she wanted was much better for them.

Gray broke the kiss just long enough so he could pull her to the bed and cover her body with his, joining their lips a moment later and Juvia’s mind began to focus on only him. Only Gray’s lips, Gray’s hands, Gray’s movements.

He didn’t think it was strange when Juvia untucked his shirt from his pants and put her hands underneath it, touching his warm skin. Gray managed to unbutton her the front of her shirt and started to kiss and nibble on her neck and down while his hand went under her skirt to cup her buttock and Juvia couldn’t help but to moan lightly.

“Gray-sam-” Juvia tried but his lips returned to hers and his hand cupped a breast gently and Juvia started to pull his shirt, needing more skin contact.

He complied with her unsaid request and took off his shirt, but looked conflicted. “Alright, that’s enough clothes gone.” He was about to kiss her again when she stopped him.

“Maybe… _not_ enough?” She asked, nervous again – she decides it’s better to talk before they are too far gone.

“What do you mean?” Gray frowned.

“Why do you think Juvia had all this…” she waved around the room “planned out? You and me, all alone in the night, with the romantic candles and music _and_ with _complete_ privacy?”

He seemed confused for a moment and then his eyes widened, cheeks getting red. “Are you saying…?” Juvia nodded, feeling her cheeks warm up. “Are you sure?” He asked, gently.

“Yes.” Juvia whispered, putting a hand on his cheek. “Juvia is ready. If you are too, I mean.” She added. “We will only do this if both of us are ready. Are you?”

“ _Oh, yes_. Very much ready, yes.” He nodded without missing a beat. “But I don’t want to do this if you- We don’t _hav_ e to-” Gray was trying to say the right words to let her know he didn’t want to rush her. “We can wait.”

The Slytherin felt herself melt with his words. When she thought she couldn’t love him more, he managed to make her fall for him even harder.

“Juvia planned all this so it could be special.” She told him gently. “We have been working up to this and at the pace we were going, it would happen on the floor at the Astronomy Tower and she rather not have it happening there.” Juvia chuckled and Gray snorted, agreeing with her. “Juvia is ready.” She put her hands on his shoulder and then caressed its way to his back “Juvia wants _you_.”

“Yeah?” Gray asked and she saw his breath was caught and he was staring at her with wide eyes.

“Yes.” She nodded and suddenly, she wasn’t nervous anymore, not really. “Juvia loves you, Gray-sama.” The blunette confessed and Gray’s eyes widened even more, making Juvia smile.

“Oh.” He blinked, releasing a sigh. “I… I…” He tried. “You know I…”

“It’s alright.” Juvia whispered. “Juvia can say it for both of us.” She gave him a light peck on the lips and her hands went from his back to his chest and abdomen. “Is this okay?” She asked and Gray nodded, leaning and capturing her mouth with his, trying to let her know all the feelings he had but didn’t know how to voice.

Juvia smiled into the kiss and let Gray take her rational thoughts away, willingly and happily.

**#**

The moment she spotted him outside the Great Hall the next morning, she told Gajeel to go on and she would join him soon to eat breakfast – her friend rolled his eyes and made gagging noises to make sure she knew his opinion to her lovey-dovey feelings. Gajeel and Gray fist bumped as the Slytherin passed the Gryffindor on the way and Juvia smiled at the sight, the smile growing when her eyes met Gray’s.

Pulling her aside to shield them from prying eyes, Gray gave her a kiss once they were concealed enough.

“Hi.” She told him, breathless when they broke the kiss, feeling her cheeks burn, the last time she had seen him, they had just made love for the first time and the thought made her whole body heat up.

“Hi.” Gray whispered and his own cheeks had pink spots on them. “Are you alright?”

“You have asked this four times since last night.” Juvia chuckled, feeling much more comfortable with what they did than her boyfriend and Gray’s cheeks pinked up even more.

“I just want to make sure…”

She pulled him down for a quick kiss. “Juvia is fine, Gray-sama.” She assured him. “Last night was… great.”

Gray cleared his throat. “I just… I have the feeling I enjoyed it better than you did.”

“Oh.” It was Juvia’s turn to get embarrassed. She cleared her throat. “Well… We will get better at it later.”

“So I am right and you didn’t enjoy it as much.” Gray pointed out and groaned in annoyance. “Blood fucking hell.”

“Gray-sama.” Juvia was exasperated. “Just because…” she looked around to make sure no one was listening “Juvia didn’t…” her whole body heated up in embarrassment “ _you know_ \- doesn’t mean she didn’t enjoy herself.” She whispered. “ _Being_ with you was lovely. Like Juvia said, we will get better at it.”

“If it gets any better, I don’t think I can survive.” He mumbled but Juvia understood him and the thought of making Gray feel good made her lower stomach boil with desire.

“Juvia is glad you think that.” She managed to say and kissed him lightly.

“I still can’t believe we did this _here_. At _school_.” He was so embarrassed it was cute.

“We live here, where else could it happen?” She asked, wrapping her arms around him and Gray hugged her back. “Besides, this castle is _a thousand_ years old, I don’t think we are the first ones to lose our virginities here.”

Gray snorted. “There’s that.”

“Juvia needs to go, she promised Gajeel-kun to have breakfast with him.” She told her boyfriend and his eyes widened.

“Oh, _damn it_. Do _not_ tell Gajeel what happened last night.” He was clearly trying not to panic. “You are like his sister and I do not fancy being target practice once he learns what we did.”

Juvia couldn’t help it but to laugh out loud. “Don’t worry, Gray-sama, Juvia will protect you.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the small chapter, I promise I’ll try to make the next one better, there’s already some drama planned with the Final Task! :)
> 
> BTW, I don’t know if you guys remember, but the ranking is real, it’s on the color page of chapter 129 and it really went: Erza, Lucy and Juvia so I took advantage of that. HAHA


	9. Sixth Year – Part III

 Transfiguration had been very interesting that afternoon but Juvia was glad it was over – she was tired and worried about the final Task in a few days. She could feel it in her gut something wasn’t right and her friends agreed even if they were excited.

“A week until the last task, huh?” Gajeel asked, walking alongside with Juvia towards the Great Hall.

“Yes.” Juvia sighed. “I have a bad feeling about this. Everyone is so excited but I have this bad feeling in my chest.”

Gajeel looked at her and frowned. “This isn’t good; your gut is usually right.”

“I know.” The blunette groaned. “This needs to be over soon.”

“Yeah.” Gajeel agreed. “Oh, there’s your other half.” He told her and pointed to a few meters away where Gray walked slowly, looking around as if looking for someone. “He’s probably looking for you.”

Juvia perked up with the sight of her boyfriend so she walked his way, Gajeel a few steps behind her.

“Hi, Gray-sama.” She said, jumping in front of him, smiling. “Want to have dinner together?”

“No.” Gray said and he kept looking around and Juvia frowned; he didn’t even spare a glance at her. He kept turning, looking for someone. “Did you see Gen anywhere?”

“Gen?” Juvia’s frown deepened and she saw Gajeel step next to her. “Who’s Gen?”

“Genevieve.”

“Genevieve?” As far as she was aware, Gray didn’t know any Genevieve so when he was looking for her so intensely, it confounded her and made her feel quite jealous.

He finally looked at Juvia and his dark eyes were glassy, he smiled stupidly. “Genevieve Saville, fifth year Hufflepuff, the most beautiful girl in the world.” He said. “Did you know she get dimples when she smiles?” Juvia felt as if she had been punched in the stomach with his words and she took a step back, confused and hurt until she noticed his flushed skin, how misty his eyes were and how weird his smile was. “She is the love of my life.”

“What _the fuck_?” Gajeel took a step towards Gray and Juvia’s first instinct was to put herself between them – an angry Gajeel would be hard to stop.

“Gajeel-kun.” Juvia put a hand on his chest to stop him.

“Are you going to let him say that to your face?” Gajeel looked at her in disbelief.

“Does he seem alright, to you?” Juvia asked her friend. “He spent _months_ hiding our relationship, do you think he would just state he loves someone else like _this_?”

“What’s wrong with him, then?” Gajeel asked and Juvia looked over her shoulder to see that Gray had wandered off and people were staring at him, curious.

“Juvia thinks someone gave him a love potion.” The blunette told her friend before she walked towards her boyfriend. “Gray-sama?” She put a hand on his shoulder and the Gryffindor looked at her. “Juvia heard Genevieve is at the Hospital Wing.”

“She is?” He got excited and it made her so angry someone had done that to him.

“Yes. How about I get you there?” She told him kindly, gently steering him the right way while he nodded, eager. The blunette looked at Gajeel, who was following a few steps behind the couple. “Gajeel-kun, could you get Natsu-san and Lucy-san? They will want to know about this.”

“Are you sure you can handle this?” He asked, worried but Juvia just nodded in response.

“Don’t worry.” Juvia told him and led her boyfriend away from the prying eyes.

**#**

“You were right, it was a Love Potion. He is going to be alright.” Polyuska told Juvia and her friends as they waited for her to examine Gray. “He got a little… too enthusiastic to find a girl so I gave him something so he could sleep for an hour.” She wasn’t happy to be bothered with silly Love Potions, that was sure. “You can go wait if you want to.”

Hearing he was alright made Juvia finally sigh in relief – her Gray-sama would be alright and it was all she needed before she turned around to look at her friends and she finally let out how angry she was.

“Could you stay with him?” She looked at Lucy, Natsu and Gajeel, venom dripping from her voice. “Juvia will be back in a few minutes.” She meant to walk away, but Lucy grabbed her arm.

“Wait, wait, wait.” The blonde stopped her. “Are you going after Genevieve Saville?”

“Of course I am.” Juvia told her. “She can’t give Gray-sama a Love Potion and expect it to be okay.” Juvia pulled her arm away. “You won’t talk me out of it.”

“I can go with her.” Natsu suggested to his girlfriend.

“Me too.” Gajeel volunteered.

“No way: you two will egg her on if she wants to fight this Genevieve. You will even help her.” Lucy said and when Juvia started to walk away, she told the two young men. “I’ll go, you two stay with Gray.”

**#**

Juvia walked purposely towards the Hufflepuff table, eyes on a pretty brunette with short wavy hair. She needed to ask who this Genevieve was and once she was pointed out who she was, Juvia narrowed her eyes and she could feel anger inside her chest, boiling.

The moment she stopped behind her target, her friends stopped eating to look at Juvia with wide eyes until Genevieve herself looked over her shoulder and she paled. She knew exactly why Juvia was there.

“You and me, outside the Hall. Now.” Juvia practically spat the words, she could feel eyes on her – people noticed something was happening and they were curious, even the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. The blunette almost bumped into Lucy when she started to leave but stopped when Genevieve spoke.

“Why should I?”

Juvia stopped, taking deep breaths before she turned on her feet to look at the Hufflepuff. “Do you want for me to tell everyone what you did? Fine by me.”

Her olive skin flushed at the thought and she got up from her seat. Trusting she would be followed, Juvia stormed out of the Hall, Lucy following right behind.

“Juvia…” The blonde tried, but Juvia gave her a look and Lucy decided to remain silent.

They only needed to wait five seconds before Genevieve and two of her friends exited the Great Hall, followed by Cana and, surprisingly, Rufus Lore who was clearly curious.

“What is going on?” Cana asked, curious. Genevieve was from her House, after all and Juvia was her friend.

“Is everything alright?” Rufus asked, frowning but Juvia ignored their questions, staring intently at the brown-haired girl in front of her.

“Why did you do it?” Juvia asked. “What drove you to do it?”

Genevieve was clearly surprised to have been asked it so bluntly and with no violence at all – Juvia had seen her hand was inside her pocket, probably gripping her wand tightly, her senses telling her she was in danger.

“He’s too good for you.” Genevieve raised her chin. “I don’t know what kind of spell you put on him, but something is wrong. Gray Fullbuster is a nice guy and somehow you put a spell on him.”

“How would that be any different with you giving him a Love Potion?” Juvia took a step closer and Genevieve took a step back. By the corner of her eyes, Juvia saw everyone holding their breaths, as if she was going to attack the younger girl.

“I wanted to see if a Love Potion could break it, break whatever you have him under.”

Juvia wanted to pluck her eyes out, she wanted to take her wand and cover her skin with furuncles to teach her a lesson, but instead, Juvia took a deep breath.

“I think he’s too good for me too, but unlike you, I know myself. I know every single thing about me while you just see me walking around the Castle.” Juvia told her. “And this is how you think he is too good for Juvia, isn’t it? You watch him from afar, you have a crush? Perhaps he was kind to you a time you spoke to him?” By the way her cheeks flushed, Juvia got it right. “You think you know him because you watch him, but you don’t, otherwise you would never do what you did today.

“We _really_ are dating, we have been dating for ten months now and most of this time we hid it because people would judge us, like you are doing right now. You think we don’t match because of our Houses or because of my past and that’s alright; I don’t care, but the moment you gave him that potion, you crossed a line.

“I don’t know what you expected it to happen, but let me tell you something: you would’ve hurt him _so much_ if he had done anything, you have no idea.” Genevieve was clearly confused. “Gray-sama is faithful and loyal. I would forgive him, he would be under the effects of a Love Potion, but he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself. He thinks he is superman, he thinks he can do anything, even fight a potion and he would think he didn’t fight hard enough. He would hate himself over it, he would think he cheated on me and he would feel disgusted with himself.” Juvia took a moment to let the words sink in. “To you, this was harmless but to him, it would have serious ramifications.”

“I…” Genevieve’s eyes were wide. “I didn’t know…”

“You didn’t know that, but _I_ do. I know him, he knows me. This is not a joke, this is not a prank.” Juvia told her. “I never gave him anything, I never put a spell on him of any kind, we just fell in love with each other and all we want to do is to live our lives without people meddling, without being judged every step of the way. A relationship is hard enough without outside people making it harder.”

The Hall was quiet, no one dared to speak, not even Genevieve herself found in her how to further justify her actions.

“That being said, some of the reasons you don’t think Juvia is for Gray-sama, is the fact she’s a Slytherin? The fact of how for four years I was a member of a Dueling Club taught by an old Death Eater?” Juvia asked and by the way Genevieve looked away, she was right again. “I changed. Gray-sama changed me and I was never on a path to be a Death Eater wannabe, no matter what you think but I did learn a lot during those years.”

The blunette took a step closer, her eyes so cold the brunette in front of her couldn’t even move. “And if you _ever_ do any of this crap again, you will know _exactly_ what I learned in those years and you’ll see how cunning, resourceful, shrewd, determined and ruthless I can be.” She hissed and the girl’s eyes widened even more in fear. “No one will ever have a shred of evidence of whatever happens to you.”

“You are threating me.” Genevieve managed to squeak, scared.

“I am.” Juvia didn’t hesitate to answer. “You are warned; it better not be a next time, Genevieve Saville, if you know what is best for you.”

Juvia turned to leave and nodded towards Cana, who was glaring at Genevieve (Juvia suspected the younger Hufflepuff would get a lecture from Cana), her friends didn’t dare to look at Juvia and Rufus was looking at her and grinning, arms crossed over his chest and he tipped his head in acknowledgement but Juvia ignored him.

She needed to see Gray.

Lucy had to jog to keep up with Juvia, who was being very fast on her feet. She needed to see her Gray-sama, needed to kiss him and hold him.

“Wow.” Lucy said from beside her. “I am so used of seeing you being nice I forgot how truly terrifying you can be.”

Juvia held her chin up. “No one messes with the people I love. _No one_.” She spared a glance at Lucy. “Especially Gray-sama.”

“Copy that.” Lucy nodded and then stayed quiet until they reached the door of the infirmary. “Juvia. Juvia, stop.” Lucy grabbed Juvia by the wrist and the blunette stopped, impatient to see her boyfriend. “Just a second, let me tell you something and then you can go cuddle with Gray, okay?” Juvia sighed but nodded. “Gray… is complicated but you understand him in a way even me, even someone who has been his friend for six years, can’t. I wouldn’t have thought of what you told Genevieve about just now and this shows how deep you got to breach his barriers and I couldn’t be happier.” Lucy put her hands on Juvia’s shoulders and smiled at her. “I want you to know that even if the whole world is against you two being together for whatever reason, I will always have your back, okay? I want both my friends to be happy.”

Juvia’s eyes started to water with the words she hadn’t been expecting at all. “Thank you.”

“Come here.” Lucy gave her a hug for a few moments and then let her go. “Now let’s go inside so you can see him, he’ll need some comforting.”

**#**

He was awake when she pulled the curtain of the bay he was in and he looked at her, guiltily and Juvia’s heart ached with the sight.

“We’ll leave you two alone.” Lucy said and waved to Natsu and Gajeel so they would follow her, which they did and Juvia stepped close to her boyfriend’s bed.

“I’m sorry.” He told her and Juvia shook her head.

“It wasn’t your fault, don’t worry.” She told him and she made to lie by his side – Gray slid away to give her space and she lied on her side, her head on his shoulder and Gray’s arm around her shoulder. “How did she get you to take the potion?”

He groaned in annoyance. “She was offering cupcakes to everyone and they all were fine when they ate it, I accepted to not be impolite. I guess mine was the special kind.” His face darkened. “I should go have a talk with her.”

“No need. Juvia already did.”

“Oh, Merlin.” Gray looked down to his girlfriend, concerned. “Do I need to help you bury a body? Or find you an alibi?”

“No.” Juvia told him. “She is still in one piece, alive and breathing.”

“Really?” He frowned and looked down at her in confusion. “I would have killed the guy who did this to you; or at least punch him a few times.”

“Don’t worry about her, Juvia made sure she knew what would happen if she tried this again.” The Slytherin told him. “But… Gray-sama… she told Juvia she did this because she thinks Juvia had given you a Love Potion herself.”

“Bloody fucking hell.” Gray said annoyed.  “This got out of hand.”

“Yes.” Juvia agreed. “We should’ve kept hiding this, look what happened to you.”

“No.” He said, decisively. “We don’t get to hide our relationship to make _them_ feel better or comfortable. We have every right to date as anyone else has. _No one_ but myself will dictate who I can or cannot be with and as it happens, I want to be with you and you want to be with me so they all can sod off.”

Juvia didn’t have words to how she felt at the moment, seeing Gray so keen to protect their relationship so she just put her hand on his cheek and gave him a sweet kiss and he sighed.

“I need to set some things straight as soon as I can.”

Juvia was about to tell him it could wait when Polyuska opened the booth’s curtain and told them Gray could go and gave him orders to eat well before going to sleep – he’d probably have deep sleep that night once he was in his own bed and he needed a full stomach.

Knowing the banquet was already over, Juvia decided to take Gray to the kitchens before she let him go to the Gryffindor Tower. It had been a very eventful day.

**#**

The Library was usually a very nice haven to whoever needed some time to themselves but that afternoon, Juvia was feeling as if she were in exhibit: everyone seemed to be looking at her. Apparently, one of Genevieve’s friends had babbled out about what happened two days before and everyone thought Juvia was crazy.

Great.

She was about to tell the person who sat next to her to leave – she had a scroll to deliver the next day before the Last Task – when she noticed it was Rufus and she sighed in relief – she liked him and he distracted her enough so she could ignore her surroundings.

“I had no idea you were so… _ferocious_.” His accent was charming and Juvia’s lips curled up a little. “That girl was ready to faint.” He chuckled.

“Sorry you had to see that.” Juvia put her quill aside. “She did give Gray-sama a Love Potion, though.”

“Oh, no, she totally deserved that.” Rufus told her, waving her concerns off. “I was expecting some hair pulling but you kept it as classy as it could be. Nice.”

“It wasn’t classy.” The blunette rolled her eyes.

Rufus raised an eyebrow. “You bitch-slapped her without even touching her: _that_ is class. If someone had given Johann a Love Potion, I would’ve, at the very least, hexed the person.”

“Juvia wanted to hex her.” She mumbled. “I wanted to… urgh. But I fought those urges, Gray-sama wouldn’t have liked for Juvia to do that but if she repeats the same mistake again, oh, she’s going to answer to me.” Maybe she sounded a little bloodthirsty, but Rufus didn’t look judgmental at all about it.

“I hear you. Next time, she’s a goner.” He chuckled. “I’ve heard some rumors since I found out you were a pupil of a Death Eater a couple of years ago.”

“Oh, god.” She moaned in annoyance. “Juvia wasn’t a pupil, she was a part of a Dueling Club and our teacher was a former Death Eater, yes. Doesn’t mean he taught us about dark magic, just techniques to improve our duel skills.”

“And that’s why most people are afraid of you.” Rufus affirmed. “You and your friend, Gajeel, wasn’t it? I heard you two were the most talented.”

“People talk a lot.” She pointed out, dodging the question.

Rufus smirked. “I’ll take that as a yes, then. We should duel someday.” He smiled her way, trying to charm her and Juvia rolled her eyes with it.

“If you want to duel someone, I’m free.” Juvia was surprise to hear Gray’s voice and even more surprised when he greeted her by leaning and giving her a peck on the lips – usually she was the one to initiate such contacts. “You should get going, Rufus. Juvia and I have a scroll to finish.”

“Of course, Fullbuster.” Rufus chuckled. “Talk to you later, Juvia.” He winked at her and she knew he was trying to annoy Gray and she sighed – boys were so silly.

Once Rufus had left their table, Gray finally sat by her side, clearly annoyed. “I don’t know why you still talk with him.”

“Juvia told you he is nice, you should see for yourself.”

“I won’t. Every time he’s around you he’s all smiles and flirts and I just can’t.” Gray mumbled to himself. “I see how girls giggle when he walks by them.”

Juvia couldn’t help it but to chuckle and lean towards her boyfriend. “Don’t worry, Juvia only giggles over you.”

“Good.” His own lips curled up and she was going to kiss him when she caught some people staring at them with looks of disgust in their faces.

She could handle to be sneered at, she had been receiving those looks all her life; she was an orphan, a mudblood, an outcast, but Gray… he didn’t have to live with that so she pulled away before their lips could meet.

“We… should finish homework.” She whispered and her attention returned to the scroll in front of her and she got her quill back.

Gray frowned, confused to her change of heart until he caught some of the people looking at them. “Okay, this stops now.”

Eyes widening as he got up, Juvia grabbed his hand so he could sit back down but he ignored her.

“Alright, listen up.” He said loudly, breaking the silence of the library. “I couldn’t help but to notice how some of you are looking at us and I just want to tell you all to shove it.” Juvia groaned internally – sometimes her Gray-sama wasn’t too graceful with words. “Yes, it is a Gryffindor and a Slytherin dating and the bloody sky isn’t falling on our heads. What, do you think she’s the embodiment of evil?” She asked a couple of older Gryffindors. “You think we should hate each other because two old men did so a thousand years ago? We are not just the traits of our Houses. Do you even _know_ her? So what if she knows what she wants and go for it? So what if she can be fierce and if she wants to be the best? Do you know what she is as well? She is braver than some Gryffindors I know, wiser and many Ravenclaws and as kind as Helga Hufflepuff was. I can be a selfish idiot, I want to win all the time and sometimes I don’t think before I act and I get into big messes because of it. So what? We are _not_ just what our Houses value; we are our own people.

“And you.” He turned to a group of Slytherins. “Some of you think we shouldn’t be together because I have pure blood and she doesn’t and that’s fucked up, I can’t begin to tell you how ridiculous you are, but if you think this will end because of it, you are even crazier than I thought. If you don’t think that and this is about Houses, I hope you heard what I said because this stops _now_.” He scanned the room and everyone was looking at him. “I will _not_ tolerate any weird looks and whispering. This is happening and you better get over it.”

…and sometimes he knew _exactly_ what to say.

Juvia looked at her boyfriend in wonder. He had never been so passionate in public – of course, they had kissed a few times but he never really spoke about it, expecting their actions to speak louder. No one ever stood up for her like that.

Oh, Merlin, she loved him so much she couldn’t handle it.

“Mr. Fullbuster!” The librarian, Mrs. Yanto arrived, fuming. “This is a Library, a place of silence! Honestly, five points from Gryffindor. Honestly! You should leave.”

“It’s alright, Mrs. Yanto, I said what I needed to say.” Gray started to get his things and Juvia did the same, a plan forming in her mind. Once he was done, he waited for her and they walked out from the Library, side by side and Gray was still angry.

“Those bloody idiots, ignorant people.” He was still mumbling and Juvia grabbed his hand and pulled him to an empty hallway, pushing him against a wall. “Juvia? What-?” She didn’t let him finish, locking their mouths together in an amazing kiss that left both of them breathless once they needed to separate their lips. “What’s that for?”

“What you said.” She kissed him again, quicker this time. “That was amazing.” She kissed him again. “I can’t believe you did that.” Another kiss. “People will be talking about this for a while.”

“Good.” He said between kisses. “It means my message will reach everyone.”

Juvia smiled into the kiss and said on his lips. “Let’s go to the Come and Go Room.” Gray made a confused sound so she explained. “You just told all of Hogwarts to shove it about our relationship. Juvia found out she thinks it’s very hot.”

It amused her so much to see his cheeks get red so quickly and how breathless he became.

“It’s… it’s the middle of the day.” He told her, as if she wasn’t aware.

“Juvia knows.” She giggled, feeling so happy she was afraid she was dreaming. “Come on. We can finish that scroll later.”

“Alright.” He mumbled and let her grab his hand and lead him.

She looked over her shoulder and smiled, receiving a small smile in return.

Four days later, at that exact time, she was certain she was going to die.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So… a bit of a cliffhanger. Sorry.
> 
> I know I said we would return to plot this chapter, but I needed to get a scene off my chest, it was one of the first I thought about and one of the main reasons I placed Juvia in Slytherin. We are not just one quality or two; people are much more complex and I’m trying to explore that. I hope it was alright.


	10. Sixth Year – Part IV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ask for forgiveness in advance, action isn’t really my strong suit but I tried my best. I hope you enjoyed either way and I’ll try to do better next chapter!

 

“How was Natsu-san holding up this morning?” Juvia asked her friends as they went down to the valley behind the Quidditch Pitch, where there was a large maze – apparently, that was the Third Task.

“He’s _Natsu_.” Her boyfriend rolled his eyes. “He’s, as he likes to say, ‘fired up’.”

“ _I_ am nervous for both of us, apparently.” Lucy mumbled, Cana and Lisanna on each side of her. “He better not die in there or I will _kill_ him.”

“He wouldn’t dare.” Lisanna chuckled. “It’s Natsu: he’ll be alright.”

“Of course he is; he’s too annoying to die.” Cana agreed.

“Everything will be fine, Lucy.” Gray said with certainty. “We’re at Hogwarts, nothing bad will really happen, the Tournament isn’t like it was a few hundred years ago.”

“You _do_ remember the dragons and diving into the Black Lake, right?” Juvia asked her boyfriend – swimming at the Lake was an ordinary thing for her but she knew other people were terrified of it.

“Well, those were clearly worse than a simple maze.” Gray shrugged it off.

“I doubt the maze will be _simple_ , Gray.” Lucy snapped at him. “It is a _task._ ”

Gray stopped walking and stood in front of Lucy. “I know you are worried, but things will be alright. Natsu and I have been practicing everyday so if it comes to a duel, you know he can take care of himself.”

“Juvia has been cleaning Gray-sama’s injuries.” Juvia told the blonde after stepping next to her boyfriend and giving him an unpleasant look – her Gray-sama got himself hurt way too much for her taste. “Trust me, they had been practicing a lot.”

“I know, I clean up Natsu’s injuries too.” Lucy sighed and Cana put an arm around her shoulder. “I just can’t help myself. I know Erza will be there as well and if something goes wrong in there, she’ll help him. If they face each other, though, that would be problematic; Natsu always said he’d want a go against her.”

“Juvia would be just as worried if Gray-sama had been a Champion.” The Slytherin told her. “You have every right to be concerned but try to remember this is the last Task and after today, things will go back to normal.” She said but the moment the words came out of her mouth, she knew something was wrong.

No, that was just a feeling. Nothing to be taken seriously, for sure.

“Right.” Lucy nodded. “I need to go see him before, though.”

“I’ll help you find him.” Lisanna told her. “I wanna see him before too.”

“Thank you.” Lucy was grateful.

“We’ll save you two a seat.” Cana informed them.

“Tell him we are hooting for him.” Juvia said.

“Well, _most_ of us.” Gray received a glare from his girlfriend and an elbow on the side from Cana. “Ouch. I was _kidding_. I don’t want the idiot _dead_.” He rolled his eyes. “Besides, he’ll be fine.”

They watched as the two girls walked towards a big tent not too far from the front of the maze and the three continued down the path to get to the bleachers where they found their remaining friends already there, saving a spot for them.

After everyone said their ‘hellos’, Juvia sat next between Gajeel – who was seated next to his now _official_ girlfriend, Levy McGarden – and Gray. It didn’t take long for Lucy and Lisanna to arrive and Lucy seemed just a little calmer after talking to her boyfriend, but still clearly worried.

The moment the music started to play, everyone got up, cheering as they knew the event was about to start.

Everyone watched as the four Champions came from paths underneath the bleachers, each with the directors of their schools, Makarov standing proud between Natsu and Erza, both looking confident, which was good.

Makarov pointed his wand to the side of his throat so his voice could be amplified. “Earlier today Professor Gildarts placed the Triwizard’s Cup deep within the maze. Only he knows its exact position. Now as Miss Scarlet...” The Hogwarts’ students cheered “and Mr. Dragneel tied for first position they will be the first to enter the maze. Followed by Mr. Eucliff...” The guys from Durmstrang let out shouts “and Miss Mikazuchi.” The ladies from Beauxbatons clapped. “The first person to touch the cup will be the winner. I've instructed the staff to patrol the perimeter, if at any point should a contestant wish to withdraw from the task he or she need only send up red sparks with their wands. Contestants, gather round.”

From that moment on, Makarov stopped to use his wand and spoke only to the four Champions, the music still playing muffing any words they were speaking.

“Champions! Prepare yourselves.” Makarov said, loudly again and each champion walked towards one of the four entrances of the maze. “On the count of three... One. Two. Three!” There was a loud ‘boom’ from a canon and Erza and Natsu shared a look before both ran in, the vines of the maze closing right after them.

Right after, Sting and Kagura did the same.

Although the song continued, now with people cheering all around them as well, their little group of friends looked at each other, hoping their friends would come out of the task as unharmed as they could.

**#**

“Here, I got us some chips.” Gray said, returning to sit next to Juvia – apparently some students were selling food during the tasks. He offered her some and Juvia ate it, it was quite good. “Anything interesting happened while I was away?”

“Nope.” It was Gajeel who answered, then, sounding boring. “It’s been thirty minutes and there hasn’t been any screaming, or red sparks or anything.” The Slytherin sighed. “Boring.”

“Gajeel!” Levy reprimanded his boyfriend.

“What?” He asked. “The best Task was the First, we got to see everything, then. There were dragons and it was bloody badass. The Second at least we knew there were all types of crazy magical animals there. Now we just get to wait looking at a bunch of bushes? _Boring_.” He repeated.

“Juvia doesn’t think the Champions are bored in there.” The blunette pointed out.

“At least no red sparks is good, right?” Lucy asked. “It means they are fine in there.”

“Or _are they_?” Gajeel said, playfully somber.

Levy pinched her boyfriend’s arm. “Okay, Gajeel, that’s enough: you are on verbal lockdown!”

“Gajeel-kun, seriously?” Juvia hissed, looking at her friend and then back to the blonde Gryffindor. “Juvia’s sure it’s all fine, Lucy-san.”

“Don’t worry, Lucy. In a few minutes Erza’s gonna come out with that cup and we all can go back to the Castle to celebrate.”

“You think Erza’s gonna win?” Lucy asked.

“Oh, yeah.” Gray nodded. “Don’t get me wrong, Natsu is a worthy opponent – don’t tell him I said that, if you do, I’ll deny it – but Erza’s better.”

“All I want is for him to come back in one piece.” Lucy sighed.

“Unlikely.” Cana told their friend. “It’s _Natsu_ , he’s gonna need someone patching him up somewhere. Let’s just hope it’s somewhere _not_ life threatening.”

“You are not comforting me at all.” Lucy complained with a sigh. “He should-”

Suddenly, the air around them, changed.

It was already a grey day but it seemed to get darker as a glittering green skull appeared in the sky atop of the maze. The skull opened it’s mouth from where a snake started to come out and every sound just stopped. There was no more music, no conversations, Juvia even dared to say no one breathed.

Juvia felt cold down her spine.

It was a Death Mark, the mark of You-Know-Who.

After two seconds of pure silence, there was an explosion on one of the bleachers and the confusion and mess started. Juvia felt Gray grab her hand and pull her so they could get out and things were so chaotic but Juvia could see some figures all dressed in black, pointy hats and weird masks closing in on them.

“What the bloody hell!” Cana yelled, grabbing her wand, like everyone else.

“Death Eaters!” Someone yelled the obvious.

“We need to fight back!” Gray yelled and everyone agreed, there were many of them and the teachers alone probably couldn’t take them all.

One of the Death Eaters attacked them and Lisanna protected them and after that, Juvia let herself go into battle mode and forgot about everything else. Her instinct was to survive, was to protect the ones she loved and those Death Eaters had no idea whom they were messing with.

There was still chaos, even with some of the Death Eaters down, since they were still closured between the bleachers and the maze. Apparently, the sons of bitches had blocked the paths outside between the bleachers.

“ _Expelliarmus_!” Juvia yelled pointing her wand at one of the bad guys, to which his own want flew from his hands. “ _Stupefy!_ ” Said Death Eater fell back a few meters behind and Juvia looked around, looking for another enemy (noting her friends were holding their own) and then she saw, just underneath the bleachers, dozens of pairs of eyes, scared.

The poor young students who managed to hide were terrified.

Juvia’s inner battle to help free them from the battlefield or to keep dueling lasted less than a second.

“Where are you going?” She heard her boyfriend yell as she ran towards one of the bleacher’s divisions. 

She didn’t answer, taking out another Death Eater and punching another (her hand hurt with it, stupid mask, she probably would regret that later) but when she finally arrived, she pointed at the thing blocking the way out and yelled: “ _Bombarda_!” When the wall barely moved, Juvia didn’t hesitate to change her strategy. “ _Bombarda Maxima_!”

That did it, the wall trembled and exploded, clearing a path.

“Come on, go back to the castle.” Juvia told the young students – first, second and third years, mostly and they started to leave through the path. “Run to the cas-” A Death Eater casted a spell but Juvia caught it just in time to not hit any of the students. “ _Protego_!” And right after: “ _Expelliarmus_! _Incarcerous!_ ” Ropes appeared and wrapped themselves around the Death Eater.

Seeing just some of the students were moving, Juvia pulled a little girl with pink hair she knew was from Slytherin and didn’t look as frightened as the rest.

“What’s your name?” Juvia asked.

“M-Meredy.” She answered.

“Alright, Meredy.” Juvia said. “You know the way back to the castle, eh?” She girl nodded. “Good.” The blunette looked to the youths, hidden. “Listen, everyone. Meredy here knows her way back and everyone is going to follow her there, alright?” She was rewarded by a few frightened nods. “Run and don’t look back.” She told them and then looked down to Meredy. “Sorry to thrust this on you.”

“I-I can do it.” Meredy nodded.

“Good girl.” Juvia tried to smile but she needed to return to the battle. “Go. Take everyone to the Castle, you’ll be safe there.” She hoped. “Juvia will cover you. Don’t stop running until you get there.” Meredy nodded and started to call everyone.

With someone that resembled a leader, at least, the young students started to leave while Juvia protected them and fought whoever tried to go stop them.

Once there was no one else hiding underneath the bleachers, Juvia finally rejoined the fight and saw the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons’ students fighting alongside with Hogwarts’ students.

“Milady.” She heard a familiar voice and saw Rufus, panting a few meters away from her, having just disarmed a Death Eater. “How did the evacuation go?” Huh, so he saw, that? His accent was thicker as he grew more and more tired, though.

“Juvia hopes they get there alright.” She told him and watched a masked man try to sneak Rufus from behind. “Duck!” She told him and the blonde man didn’t hesitate to go to the floor. “ _Immobulus_!” The Death Eater immediately stopped. “ _Expelliarmus!_ ” She said, just in case, as the enemy’s want flew from his hand.

“Oh, you _are_ after my heart.” Rufus told her and Juvia laughed, nervously. All of it was so surreal she felt she could laugh hysterically for hours. He got up. “Go, he snuck out on me this time, but we, from Durmstrang, are strong and we can hold out own. Go to your friends.”

Juvia nodded and ran back to where she could identify a large number of Hogwarts’ Students standing, most of their enemies, down.

She spotted her boyfriend _stupefying_ someone and ran to him after seeing no one else needed help and in her own eagerness to see him, she lowered her guard and didn’t see the red beam coming her way from the side or the Death Eater saying ‘ _Stupefy_ ’ before she was being thrown away on the bleachers and for a moment, her world turned black.

**#**

“ _Rennervate_!” She heard someone with a familiar voice say and suddenly she opened her eyes and took a deep breath in, feeling very energetic all of a sudden. “Hey, easy, easy.” She recognized Gray’s voice and saw he was the one holding her. “That asshole hit you hard and I couldn’t let you come out on your own, you could get even more hurt.”

“Thank you.” She panted and with some help, got up from the crumbles of the bleachers and no matter how much energy the charm gave her, she was still sore all over. “How is everyone?”

“Fine. A few bumps and bruises, but fine.” He assured her and led them to where their friends were waiting, some other students were making sure the Death Eaters who were defeated were properly secured.

“This doesn’t make sense.” Juvia heard Levy the moment she was close enough to the group. “Why attack now? Here? There’s only been rumors about You-Know-Who’s return. Why expose themselves like that?”

“Those guys were way too weak to be actual Death Eaters.” Gajeel agreed with his girlfriend – he had a cut over his right eyebrow but it didn’t look so bad. “I mean, I saw a _fourth_ year take one down.”

“We were very good when we were fourth-years.” Juvia reminded him.

He nodded in agreement. “But we had special training. He, didn’t.”

“This is a distraction.” Lucy muttered, looking down and then up to them. “This is a distraction!” She looked towards the maze. “He wanted to be inside that maze with…”

“Natsu. This whole thing is about getting Natsu alone!” Gray completed and Juvia could feel the panic in his expression. “ _Bloody hell!_ ”

“What are we waiting for?” Cana asked their friends and pointed her wand towards the wall of leaves. “ _Reducto!_ ” The leaves disintegrated, opening a path. “Let’s go.”

**#**

“Juvia guesses you got to be part of the Tournament after all, Gray-sama.” Juvia whispered as they walked around the maze in search for their friend, both tips of their wands lit up, so they could see better between the fog.

“Great.” She saw him roll his eyes. “How little did I know, huh, when I tried to put my name on?” Gray sighed. “And it makes sense now why Natsu’s name was chosen. I was such an asshole, then.”

“A little bit.” Juvia agreed and Gray looked at her, affronted. “What? You admitted it yourself, just now.”

“ _You didn’t have to agree_.” He mumbled, annoyed a few steps ahead and even in their dire situation, Juvia managed to chuckle and suddenly she stepped onto something and a second later, there was, what could only be described as changing ball appear in front of them.

A boggart.

“Juvia!” Gray exclaimed.

Shite, of course, they weren’t just looking for Natsu, this was the Maze of the Third Task, still.

Juvia prepared herself. She never faced a boggart before, but she was ready to whatever was she feared the most.

She did not expect it to turn into a little chestnut-haired girl around five, with pigtails and big hazel eyes, or for it to say. “ _No one wants to play with you, Juvia! You always makes rain!”_ The boggart changed it to a couple, the man’s arm around his ‘wife’s’ shoulder as he whispered in her ear “ _Not that one to adopt, honey, she looks freaky._ ” The woman nodded and the boggart changed again, to a blonde boy around seven: “ _No one will ever adopt you because you are a freak!_ ” The boggart changed to Bora, her ex-boyfriend. “ _Do you think someone will ever love you, Juvia? Really?_ ” ‘He’ laughed. “ _Poor, lonely, Juvia_.” Every word made Juvia’s heart break, fear of them speaking the truth filling her being.

The fifth change hit Juvia the hardest because in front of her, was Gray.

“ _Did you really think I wanted you?_ ” ‘He’ chuckled. “ _You are just a way to pass the time here at school. Everyone knows you are a freak. A_ freak _. A freak_.”

“No.” Her eyes watered and her wand slip from her fingers to hit the ground and her knees felt weak. “No, don’t say that. Not _you_ , please.”

“ _Freak._ ” The boggart said it again and it looked so much like Gray. “ _Rain Woman_. _Everyone will leave you, including me._ ”

Juvia’s eyes were wide as she surrendered to the fear of being left alone once more, an outcast, a no one. _A freak_.

The boggart changed again but that time, she saw herself on the ground atop of the body of all of their friends and some people she didn’t know, eyes wide open and bleeding, clearly at the verge of death and then she vaguely heard Gray’s voice say “ _Riddikulus_!” ‘Her’ body moved but she didn’t pay attention to what it did and she heard Gray put it back on the box where it had been hiding before.

“Juvia!” Gray kneeled in front of her (when did she get on her knees?) and put a hand on her cheek. “Juvia, look at me.” Her vision was unfocused for a moment but she finally saw him clearly. “Hey, it was a boggart. Nothing it said was true, okay?”

“You’ll leave me.” She whispered, feeling like the ten-year-old Jose Porla visited for the first time, afraid of being alone forever. “No one stays.”

“I do.” He told her, gently. “I do, okay? Our friends do.” Gray gave her a quick kiss on the lips and she felt slightly better. “The only thing it said that was true was the fact you are a freak.” Juvia’s heart sank with his words, but seeing his smile, she was confused. “You are our freak, just another freak in our freakshow and that’s nothing to be afraid of because us freaks stick together, okay?” She nodded slowly, feeling more like herself again.

“Freaks stick together.” Juvia said.

“And you are dating one hell of a freak.” Gray informed her. “I’m sticking around for a long time. Okay?”

“Okay.” Her voice was barely louder than a whisper and both of them finally got up, Juvia having grabbed her wand back before they did. “That was… Juvia felt as if she were a child again.”

“Boggarts are bloody awful.” He said.

“Hey, your boggart, it changed into-” The Slytherin tried, but Gray was already preparing to leave again.

“We have to keep going. We can talk about this later.” Gray took a few steps and Juvia followed him in silence for a few minutes, trying to keep her feelings at bay when suddenly, a wall of vines were between them. “No!” He heard him yell. “Juvia!”

“Gray-sama!” The blunette tried and she heard him answer two more times before it finally stopped.

She was on her own.

Taking deep calming breaths, Juvia assessed her situation and decided against sending red sparks up to the sky. They hadn’t found Natsu yet, they needed to and she wasn’t going to give up just yet.

“Well, well, well…” Cold ran down her spine as a Death Eater stepped from one of the corners. He wasn’t wearing a mask, but had long and spiky blond hair that reached down to his lower back. He had a psychotic grin on his lips, red eyes and looked absolutely mad. “What do we have here?” He sniffed the air. “I smell mudblood.” Juvia didn’t fall for the bait, instead, she took defensive position. “You are no fun.” He complained. “I can change that. _Tarantallegra_!”

Thankfully Juvia protect herself by using the _Protego_ charm and she immediately attacked with “ _Incendio!_ ”, aiming to his hair tips, startling him enough.

“You bitch!” He looked positively mad, then. “ _Stupefy!_ ” Juvia protect herself. “ _Stupefy!_ ” She did it again. “ _Crucio!_ ” He yelled and that time Juvia jumped away from it otherwise she was done for and she knew it.

“Stupefy.” She tried but he blocked her. “Expelliarmus.” Blocked again.

Knowing it was entirely crazy and she really shouldn’t, Juvia ran in his direction, her _muggleness_ showing even as she protected herself of every spell with a counter of her own and in the end, she just punched him on the face (he never saw it coming – pure-bloods… always forgetting there was more than just fight with wands) and the moment he was distracted, she pointed her wand at him and yelled: “ _Petrificus Totalus!”_ At the same moment, the Death Eater stopped moving and fell back on the grass, leaving Juvia panting.

She took away his want and used _Incarcerous_ to make sure he was secured. She took a few steps back and was about to sent out red sparks so the Death Eater could be apprehended when the Ministry arrived, she felt…

She felt a presence just alongside the corridor of plants and vines and when she looked up, her heart stopped. The man she was seeing didn’t look much older than she was, with his dark hair and eyes, but he was powerful, she could feel it in her bones.

In her mind, she knew who it was. The way she was afraid for her life, told her exactly who that man was.

Zeref, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, stood just a few meters from her and that was the moment she knew she was going to die.

She was frozen with fear and all she could think was how she hadn’t lived enough yet, how she still had so many thing she needed to do before she died. But apparently, she wasn’t going to get that chance.

Zeref walked slowly towards he Death Eater on the floor. He put his feet on the man’s face. “Tsc, tsc, tsc. Zancrow.” He said to the immobilized man. “Losing to a student?” Zeref chuckled. “I have no need for weak.” And then, for the first time in her life, Juvia saw someone raise their wand and say “ _Avada Kedavra_ ”.

The green was oddly enthralling and beautiful, even if she knew the consequence to such words. She supposed she was next and admiring the color of the spell that was about to end her life wasn’t healthy at all.

Zeref, then, looked her way. That was that, then. She was going to die.

“Mudblood, huh?” He commented. “A powerful one at that.” He chuckled to himself. “Today you get to live, girl. Gloat about defeating a Death Eater. Next time, you won’t be so lucky.”

Before Juvia could say anything (not that she knew what she wanted to say), Zeref raised his wand and without saying a word, threw her body like a ragdoll on the floor and making her lose consciousness.

**#**

The moment she woke up, Juvia felt as if her whole body had stomped for hours by rhinos. Something inside her was broken, she knew. She crawled to her wand and sent red sparks up to the sky in order to be saved. There was no way she’d just walk, especially on a maze.

She glanced at the dead body of the man (Zancrow, Zeref said?) and she shuddered with how close that would’ve been her and she was only alive because of a whim from the Dark Lord.

The Slytherin must’ve dozed off while waiting because the next thing she knew, she was being lift to a stretcher and she only fully woke up on a makeshift bay at the Great Hall, she supposed, which meant the infirmary was full.

Was Gray okay? Were her friends? She needed to find out but when she tried to get up, pain shot through her body – something was _definitely_ broken, she decided.

The curtain that made her bay a little less public was opened and two people stepped inside, a man with bright red hair, freckles all over his face and hazel eyes and a woman with dark eyes, sharp dark eyes. Both wearing similar overcoats.

“Miss Lockser.” The man said. “We are Aurors with the Ministry and we’d like a statement. “He barely looked up to her while the woman stared at her with curiosity. “We found you next to a dead body, of a man we believe made part of the Dark Lord Hoax and…”

“Hoax?” Juvia asked, rude. She was in pain, cranky and she really just wanted to know if Gray was alright, alongside with her friends. “Hoax? I saw the Dark Lord myself. He killed that man.”

The red-haired man finally looked at her and the woman’s eyes narrowed. “Now, you know He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is long gone, my girl.”

“He is back.” She told him and started to tell what happened during the day and the more she talked, more the man appeared to not believe her and the woman seemed awfully interested, but still hadn’t spoken.

Once she told everything, Juvia took a good look at the male Auror and sighed. “You can go now.”

“Excuse me?”

“You don’t believe me, I can’t convince you and I need to find my friends.” She clarified and even sitting down gave tremendous pain but she wouldn’t let it get in the way. “Juvia is not going to stay here repeating the story over and over when you don’t believe me. So… just go.”

Red-haired man’s face matched his face in outrage. “Look here-”

“Juvia?” She heard Gray call. “Juvia, are you here?”

Her heart felt a million times lighter by hearing his voice. “Yes!” She exclaimed. “Here, Gray-sama.”

It took him a few moments to find him but when he finally did, he looked a little worse to wear but nothing life-threatening. He went straight to her, without even bother to look around and pulled for a kiss and a hug, which made her whimper in pain.

“Are you okay?” He was concerned.

“Juvia thinks something is broken but she can wait.” She explained. “How’s everyone else?”

“Alive.” He sighed in relief and so did she. “What happened to you?”

She hesitated. “I saw him.” The Slytherin told him in a whisper and when Gray frowned, she clarified with a terrified whisper: “ _You-Know-Who_. He could’ve killed me, but didn’t.” Gray gasped but she saw he didn’t doubt her words. “They don’t believe me.” She pointed the Aurors with her head.

“McCormack might not, but I do believe you, kid.” The woman finally spoke and Gray’s head snapped pretty fast towards the voice, giving attention to the other people on the booth.

“ _Mom_?” Gray asked in disbelief and Juvia’s eyes widened.

“Hey there, kid. Busy day, huh?” The pretty brunette uncrossed her arms over her chest and offered Juvia her hand. “Ur Milkovich, Gray’s foster mother.”

Oh, great. She had just been rude to the mother of her boyfriend.

And there she thought meeting the Dark Lord had been the most difficult thing she’d have to do that day.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You weren’t expecting Ur, were ya? ;)
> 
> So, yes, Juvia’s boggart isn’t a physical monster: she is afraid of rejection while Gray’s is to see his loved ones die. (There’s really a boggart in the Maze on the books, okay? I mix that up with the movies a bit)


	11. Sixth Year – Part V

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little update to ease the tension, next chapter will be better, I promise.

Once she was treated and she didn’t feel as if it were something broken inside her, all Juvia felt was tiredness; there weren’t enough potions for everyone and Juvia passed to get something to relief her from her soreness. There were people who needed more than she did.

After the quick introduction, Ur went to interview some other people, promising to come back later when she was done – she was still working after all – and after Gray guaranteed Juvia was healed and wouldn’t leave her cot, he went to check in on some of their friends while the blunette took a nap.

She woke up a few minutes after falling asleep and she opened her eyes to see her boyfriend sitting on a chair next to her cot, the curtain was drawn, and he looked _so_ tired.

“Hey.” Juvia whispered and his eyes met hers.

“Hey, you are finally awake.” Gray’s smile was small.

“And you look as if you need a nap.” She scooped as far as she could on the cot and patted it. It worried her how fast he lied next to her, without even complaining. They were facing each other, she raised her head so his arm slipped underneath it so she could rest. “What happened once we got separated?”

“I couldn’t return to you, so I had to go forward, I thought you would be alright.” His hand went to her hip. “I would never imagine you’d meet _him_.”

“No one would.” The Slytherin whispered. “He was supposed to be dead.”

“I know, but Juvia…” Gray gulped. “You could’ve died. He killed his own man and could’ve killed you.”

“He didn’t.” Juvia kissed his lips. “Juvia is a little banged up, but fine.”

“Yeah.” He sighed. “After that, I found a Death Eater, we fought and I barely won but I did and when I got at the middle of the Maze, Erza and Natsu were there, he was bleeding.” Juvia gasped. “He’s alright now, don’t worry.” His hand went from her hip to her lower back. “I’ll tell you more later, too many ears in here.” Gray whispered and Juvia nodded, they’d talk later.

“Have you seen Gajeel-kun?” Juvia asked.

“He broke his leg and it’s fixed now, Levy is pampering him a few bays over, don’t worry.” Gray told her and she sighed in relief. “Don’t worry, you need to rest.”

“So do you.” The blunette told her boyfriend. “Close your eyes for a few minutes, Juvia will be here.”

“I’m not even hurt.” Gray sighed but Juvia glanced up and she saw his eyelids becoming heavier when she caressed his back.

“Doesn’t mean you don’t need rest.” She said, soothingly. “Close your eyes. Juvia is sure we will be released from here in a few and since we can’t talk about what happened, so rest it is.” Juvia spoke.

“Hm.” It was his answer and Juvia smiled when, the next time she looked up, Gray’s eyes were closed, and his breathing evened out and soon, Juvia dozed off too.

**#**

The next time Juvia woke up from her light slumber, she almost jumped from the cot she was twined around Gray, since his mother was looking at them with a knowing smile, arms crossed over her chest.

Juvia blinked two times before she realized Ur probably wanted to talk to Gray and before she could shake him awake, the Auror spoke.

“No, don’t wake him – I spoke with him briefly while you were asleep.” She said. “He’s tired and worried over you and your friends a lot, he needs to rest.”

“He does.” Juvia whispered, afraid to speak louder and wake him up. “Sorry we met like this.” She waved her hand down to her and Gray lying down on the cot.

“Not the best circumstances, eh?” Ur chuckled. “Don’t worry, with everything that happened today, it’s more than understandable this need to be next to each other. Next time I see you, we will be properly introduced, deal?”

Juvia smiled – she liked Ur already. “Deal.”

“Take care of him, would you?” Ur’s eyes went to her sleeping son. “He thinks he’s so tough, but he’s as human as anyone else and needs someone to remind him of that.” Juvia herself looked up to her boyfriend. “Tell him something for me?”

“Of course.”

“Tell him to write me and I’ll see him in two weeks when summer vacation starts.” She told her. “You are invited too.”

“Oh.” Juvia was surprised. “Thank you.”

“I think we should get to talk when you are not bleeding or lying in a bed with my son.” Juvia’s face became red as she felt her face get hotter while Ur just smirked. “See you around, kid, and be safe, both of you. The Ministry is going to be a pain in the ass on you, since you saw _Him_.”

“Bye.” Juvia whispered when Ur left the bay.

The Slytherin looked up and saw Gray still slept and kissed his cheek, snuggling even closer to him.

**#**

“Oh, Juvia, I will miss you, my dear.” Rufus kissed her hand and the blunette couldn’t help it but to giggle. “You have made my stay here at Hogwarts _much_ better. How else would I have messed with Gray Fullbuster if you weren’t here?”

“Oh, Juvia thinks you would’ve found a way.” She told him as they started to walk around outside the castle where people from the three schools were saying their good-byes. “

 “Indeed.” Rufus chuckled, and they stayed in silence for a moment. “I saw you were called again by Professor Makarov. Ministry again?”

“Yes.” She sighed. “Just a few people saw You-Know-Who and the Ministry is convinced we are lying, that what happened was a hoax and somehow we were in the middle of it. Doesn’t help I am a Slytherin.” Juvia rolled her eyes. “Apparently, Juvia could be involved.”

“Ah, the old prejudice.” Rufus snorted. “They didn’t see you fight those Death Eaters like I did, otherwise they’d never thought you had something to do with it. You were impressive.”

“You were not bad yourself.” Juvia smiled and they stopped walking.

“I believe you, by the way. About You-Know-Who.” He told her, and she sighed in relief.

“Thank you.” She said honestly. “Thanks for taking Juvia to the Yule Ball and helping out when all hell broke loose, too.”

“It was my pleasure on both counts.” His green eyes sparkled in excitement. “I have so much to tell Johann! You should definitely come visit whenever you want.” He took a piece of paper from his pocket and gave it to her. “Here’s my address. Send me an owl or just drop by, we have such beautiful sights in my country I would love to show you around. You can even bring Gray Fullbuster with you, it will be even better!”

Juvia took the paper. “Thank you very much.”

“Bring me where?” Gray’s voice came from behind her as her boyfriend walked towards them.

“Oh, to my town.” Rufus waved his hand as if it weren’t a big deal. “It freezes our arses during the winter, but dammit it’s _beautiful_ out there during the summer.”

“That’s pretty much the _last_ place I would want to go.” Gray put an arm around Juvia’s waist. “Besides, we have plans for the summer already.”

“Now _that_ ’s interesting.” Rufus raised an eyebrow and told them: “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, which isn’t much.” He winked, and the couple blushed, making the blonde man laugh. “You two are adorable.” A distinctive sound of a horn made them both look and it was clear the Durmstrang students were being called. “Time to go, I guess.”

“Tell Johann-san Juvia wants to meet him soon.”

“Of course.” Rufus turned to Gray, who sighed in (mostly) fake annoyance and offered him his hand.

“Thanks for the help during the fight. I guess you are alright.”

“I am touched, Gray.” Rufus grabbed Gray’s forearm and the brunette did the same. “It was my pleasure helping out, so if you need assistance again, Durmstrang will come to your aid.” Both men nodded, serious. “And thank you for giving me the privilege of taking one of the most beautiful and adorable girls of Hogwarts to the Yule Ball!”

Gray let go of his hand and groaned. “Will _anyone_ let me forget about that? _Ever_?”

“I don’t think so.” Rufus laughed and Juvia couldn’t help but to giggle.

**#**

Juvia woke up slowly and patted the spot next to her to reach for her boyfriend, but found it empty. She opened her eyes and looked around, looking for him and once again, nothing. She could heart, though, some noise on the ground floor of the house so she assumed he was down there.

She got up from the mattress that was located on the floor (the house was mostly empty, but Gray got them a mattress) and got her silky robe to hide her nakedness – she was right, after all: they just needed some practice. Her cheeks got heated when she reminded herself of the night before.

Seeing they were alone in his house, Juvia decided to wear nothing underneath her robe and leave the knot in the middle just a little looser than normally so her boyfriend could have a nice view once he saw her get downstairs.

The day before, a week after summer vacation started, Gray appeared at Juvia’s group home and used a spell to confuse the headmistress and made her think Juvia was leaving for a summer camp, but instead, she would spend the rest of it with him, at his house.

Gray had inherited his parents’ house and with him being seventeen, an adult in the wizardry world, he decided to spend the summer there. In the meantime, he would also fix some things in the house. He didn’t want to live there yet, but if he was going to spend some quality time with his girlfriend, he’d rather not do it at his foster mother’s place.

They were required to have dinner there thrice a week and spend weekends at her place, though. They’d go there later that night for their first dinner and Juvia and Ur’s first proper introduction,

Juvia walked down the stairs and heard Gray talking to someone at the kitchen so she followed his voice, but once she was there, there was no one else but her boyfriend, who was cooking – it was probably her imagination.

“Good morning.” She said, and he looked over his shoulder, smiling – such a beautiful sight, she really should try more to make him smile.

“Hey, good morning.” He returned his attention to the stove, turning it off and Juvia could smell eggs. Gray was only wearing pants and she took a second to appreciate his beautiful body.

“Who were you talking to?” Juvia stepped closer to him.

Gray turned around to answer her but stopped when he saw the pink silky robe she was wearing and how low the neckline was. “Uh…” Juvia smiled and stepped closer to her boyfriend, watching his eyes linger, especially when she started to play with the knot of her robe. “I… was…”

“Yes?” Juvia got closer to him and kissed his lips, then his jaw, bit his neck lightly (no visible marks for Ur to tease him about later that night) and her hands cupped his face before he could complain and brought him down to kiss her properly.

Gray lost no time in pulling her closer to him and untying the knot of her robe but the moment he pushed it over one of her shoulders, they heard someone clear their throat and both stopped.

“Uh… You two should probably stop before this gets traumatic for all of us.”

Juvia jumped and hid behind Gray, pulling her robe closer to her body and she looked around, trying to figure out who spoke, and her eyes finally found who she was looking for.

Or rather… _what_.

It was a portrait of a man who looked a lot like Gray, but older.

“ _Bloody hell, dad_!” Gray all but shrieked.

“ _Dad_?” Juvia asked, surprised. His parents were dead… but a portrait survived its original’s death. _Of course_ , magical portraits held the subjects’ usual thoughts and memories.

“I’m sorry, son, but I thought it would be better to stop you two before things got out of hand.” The portrait said. “Nice meeting you, sweetheart.”

“You… too.” Juvia whispered and she was absolutely red. “I’ll… go now.” She all but ran out of the kitchen, Gray following behind.

“Juvia!” He stopped her by the stairs.

“By _Merlin_ , Gray-sama, that was your _father_!”

“His _portrait_ , yes.”

“Will Juvia _ever_ meet someone from your family in a normal manner?” She asked and then became even redder as she said, horrified: “And we will have dinner with your foster _mother_ tonight!”

“I’m sorry, I was going to tell you, but you are wearing _that_ ” he pointed at her robe – which was more than secured, then, she made sure “and I got distracted!”

“Juvia hopes you enjoyed that, because you won’t be seeing _any_ of this anytime soon!” Juvia walked up the stairs and heard her boyfriend ask, slightly terrified.

“What do you mean by _that_? What’s ‘ _this_ ’? Juvia. _Juvia_!”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise we’ll see a full Ur x Gruvia interaction next chapter, plus Silver’s portrait and we’ll get to Zeref’s interest in Natsu as well! They will have an interesting summer (this is my take on them spending some months together, like on canon)!
> 
>   


	12. Summer Vacation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, but if anyone still reads this: here we go.
> 
> (If you read my other HP!AU Magic Love, you might see some similarities with it because, well, it’s me, the same author and I thought it would be hilarious to bring it back in more detail haha So, if you feel as if you are having dèja vu, you are LOL)  
> #

 

“We have to get inside at some point.” Gray pointed out as they stood outside his foster mother’s house – he had apparated them there, since Ur’s house wasn’t connected through the Floo Network.

“Juvia knows.” She agreed, holding a container with cookies she had baked earlier. “The last time she saw us, we were _lying on a cot together_.”

“After fighting for our lives, we were a bit _exhausted_ , she’ll live.” He rolled his eyes.

“And this morning-”

“Nope, one parental crisis at time.” Gray cut her off and put a hand on her lower back and pushed her forward. “Come on.”

They took three steps when the front door open and Ur came outside her porch, hands on her hips and an eyebrow raised. “About time. I’ve been watching the two of you stand in front of my house for five minutes. Come inside, dinner’s getting cold.”

“Hello to you too, mom.” Gray rolled his eyes when they were close enough.

“Hello, kiddo.” Ur messed with Gray’s hair and kissed his cheek. “And hello to you too.” She turned to Juvia.

“Juvia brought some cookies.” The blunette said lamely, practically shoving the container into Ur’s hands. The older witch raised an eyebrow. “Hello.” Juvia whispered.

Ur chuckled while Gray tried to contain a smirk – it was fun to watch Juvia being so nervous: she could be so confident it put some people into shame but at the sight of his foster mother, she turned into a silly girl.

“Like I said, come in, dinner’s ready.”

**#**

Dinner was pleasant enough after Juvia’s awkwardness faded and the three of them had some good conversations about school and their friends, it was all light and breeze. Juvia tried to help with the dishes, but Ur waved her off, using magic to do it and since Juvia was just a few months away from her birthday, she still couldn’t perform magic outside Hogwarts.

They went to the living room and sat on the couch to continue their conversation, each holding a glass with juice.

“Juvia didn’t know exactly what she wanted to be after school, but she’s leaning towards becoming an Auror.” The blunette sat down next to her boyfriend. “It was quite thrilling and Juvia got to help, it is a good feeling.”

“It is.” Ur nodded. “And by your grades, you could make it.”

Juvia’s head tilted to the side in question but it was Gray who wondered: “How do you know about her grades?”

Ur shrugged nonchalantly. “She was investigated because of the Third Task and we had to go over her files and I volunteered.” Gray glared at her. “What? I needed to know if you were dating a good girl. Let’s face it, Gray, a Gryffindor and a Slytherin makes little sense and I was worried since you are not exactly a sharer.” Well, that hurt, Juvia thought. “I liked how she handled McCormack and didn’t take his shit, I just needed more information.” Oh, better, then – the blunette thought.

“Mom…”

“Don’t worry, kid. Just a look at you two at that cot made me realize it was prejudice from my part. She seems like a good girl.” Ur shrugged. “Besides, who am I to judge?” Gray nodded in agreement, taking his glass to drink some juice and Juvia felt better – it appeared Ur approved of her, to the Slytherin’s relief. “So, after seeing you two so cozy on that cot, I have to ask: what kind of protection are you two using?” Gray started to cough since he was in the middle of taking a sip of his drink when his mother spoke.

Juvia’s eyes widened and seeing Ur’s smirk, she was sure the older woman timed it just like that to startle her son.

“ _What?_ ” Gray all but shrieked.

“Oh, come on, Gray. I’m older than you, but I haven’t forgotten how to be a hormonal teenager.” Ur rolled her beautiful dark eyes. “You two have been together for what? A year? I’m just asking what precautions you two are taking because I am too young to become a grandmother.”

Both young adults were red-faced with her words. Gods, it was so embarrassing, especially since she vividly remembered the night before and what almost happened that morning before Silver’s portrait interrupted them.

“Oh boy, your faces are priceless.” Ur chuckled. “You can’t hide at all the fact you shagged already. What? If I go to your house today I’ll find her things in the guest bedroom instead of in the main bedroom where _you_ sleep?”

“I…we… it’s…” Gray tried, face all red.

“Yes, yes, very articulated, son.” Ur snorted. “Let’s see if I can get answers from your better half, then.” Her gaze turned to Juvia. “So? Care to answer my very invasive question?”

Juvia cleared her throat and composed herself much quicker than her boyfriend. “Juvia has taken the Lunata Potion.”

“Hm.” Ur hummed in agreement. “A good one. Guarantees no children for a year.”

“Yes, that’s why Juvia chose it.” She nodded.

“Did you brew it yourself?”

Juvia shook her head. “No. This is too important for Juvia to attempt on her own; she bought it from St. Mungos.”

“When did you take it?” Another invasive question Juvia could avoid, but didn’t.

“A little after New Years.”

“New Year’s?” Gray wondered. “We haven’t-” He started but stopped when he realized his mother was there.

“Oh, keep going: if you don’t ask, I will.” The Auror shrugged.

“We hadn’t done anything, then.” He asked in a whisper Juvia was sure his mother heard, but the older woman just watched the interaction.

“No, we hadn’t but Juvia knew it was just a matter of time.” She told him in a matching whisper. “She figured: rather safe than sorry.”

“Smart.” Ur said and looked at her son. “You didn’t even think about any of that, did you?” The shade of red on his face deepened and it was clear he had not. “Thank Merlin you got yourself a smart one.” She sighed. “There are spells, but I trust on potions much more. Spells are for the moment and I think you realized magic can be the last thing in your mind when you are-”

“Alright, that’s enough of that.” Gray cut her. “We get it and you don’t have to worry. I’ll make sure we get the potion by Christmas this year, okay?”

“Good.” Ur chuckled and then stopped, putting a finger over her lips in the universal way of telling someone to be quiet.

The couple watched as Ur got up, wand in hand, and went to the windows and doors whispering a spell and once she was done, she returned to her seat.

“Now we can talk more serious issues.”

“Was that an Imperturbable Charm?” Juvia wondered.

“Yes.” Ur nodded. “We won’t be heard by anyone now.”

“Can you teach Juvia?” The blunette wondered.

“Of course.” Ur’s eyes softened a bit and then returned to being serious. “You-Know-Who has indeed returned and the Ministry’s trying to cover up because they are afraid of the public’s reaction and I am almost certain the Minister is into dark arts. That’s why they are trying to sell what happened in Hogwarts as a prank.”

Juvia’s whole body tensed and she grabbed Gray’s hand. “Juvia saw him.”

“I know you did, sweetheart.” Ur told her. “And your accounts of what happened made me realize he’s just playing for now, testing the waters, but it won’t be like that for much longer. Our people inside tells us he wants Natsu.”

Both Juvia and Gray, gasped. It wasn’t exactly a surprise, but seeing an actual Auror telling them that information, gave them much more certainty.

“We don’t know the exactly connection between them, but if I could advise Natsu, I would tell him not to go to Hogwarts this year.” Ur said. “I’m almost asking you not to go this year.”

“What? Why?”

“Because there will be changes in Hogwarts – they hadn’t told us what, but there will be – and I would feel much better if you were not there. Neither of you.” She looked at Juvia too. “You are Natsu’s friend and loyal to him so I know if something happens, you will be right in the middle of it and it worries me.”

“Mom…” Gray sighed.

“I know. You are an adult now, but you are my kid and I am allowed to worry, no matter your age.” Ur sighed in resignation. “I know you will go.”

“I… I can’t just live on a ‘maybe’.” Gray told her softly. “If you are ever sure there are people coming to get Natsu, send us word and we will leave. But before that…”

“Yes, yes, yes. Stubborn as always.” Ur sighed and looked at Juvia. “Don’t know how you got to date him.”

“Juvia is more stubborn than he is.” Juvia shrugged.

“Yeah, that would do it.” Ur chuckled. “Are you going to see Natsu soon?”

“We are going to spend two days at Lucy’s beach house next week.” Gray informed his mother.

“Tell him what I told you. Please, be aware of your surroundings and remember: trust no one.”

“Don’t worry, mom. We can take care of ourselves.”

**#**

As usual, the beach proved to make them relax but after Gray and Juvia told them about the threat on Natsu’s life – again and the pink haired boy had no clue why – the boys decided that everyone should start to practice more offensive and defensive spells.

“Again.” Natsu panted when he got up from the ground and so did Gray while their girlfriends and friends watched.

“We’ve been at it for an hour.” Gray complained. “Let’s rest for a few minutes.”

The proof of Natsu’s own tiredness was he didn’t even hesitate to agree.

“You saw that, right?” Gajeel, who had joined ten minutes before, asked Juvia, who nodded. “Will you tell him?”

“Maybe one of us should demonstrate?” The blunette asked her friend while Gray made his way to sit on her other side and Natsu went to sit down next to his girlfriend, who offered him some water.

“Yeah.” Gajeel agreed.

“I don’t know what is going to happen this year at school, but I’m betting Natsu’s ready for it.” Gray told her and her attention went to him. “We’ve barely stopped for the last hour.”

“You were very impressive.” Juvia wanted to kiss him but being all sweaty made her hesitate. The Slytherin glanced towards Natsu, Lucy and Cana, who were sitting nearby and raised her voice a little. “There’s something, though, Juvia and Gajeel-kun think you two could improve when casting a spell.”

Natsu frowned. “Improve? Improve how?”

“Yeah.” Gray was as confused as the other girls were. “They had been very effective.”

“And they _are_ effective.” Juvia got up and so did Gajeel so everyone could see them better. “Remember last year, though, when you and Natsu-kun were mock fighting and Juvia corrected your posture and the spell was more effective?” It took a moment for Gray to remember and nod. “Well, the truth is, most spells are like that.”

“What they teach us here at school is the general way of doing a spell but everyone has a different constitution.” Gajeel told them, arms crossed over his chest. “Different sizes, weights, everything.”

“Which means most of us need to adjust a little for the spell to have the most desirable effect.” Juvia completed. “We can demonstrate.”

Gray and Natsu looked at each other and both shrugged at the same time.

“Since Juvia’s still underage, Gajeel-kun will demonstrate.” She huffed in annoyance – she hated not being seventeen yet. Since they were at the beach, Juvia pointed to the trunk of a fallen tree and told Gajeel: “Bombarda, the regular way.”

Gajeel nodded and pointed his wand at the trunk and said: “ _Bombarda!_ ” The trunk, as predicted, exploded in many pieces. Everyone waited while he said: “ _Reparo._ ” and the trunk return to its original state.

“Now that you saw the regular way we do the spell, notice how it will change once we change Gajeel-kun’s posture.” Juvia told them. “Since he’s tall, his hand needs to get lower for this particular spell to line up with his heart and his feet must be a little apart.” They were all watching Gajeel’s stance change slightly to what Juvia was describing. “Again, Gajeel-kun.”

“ _Bombarda!_ ” It was the exact same spell but the explosion was much bigger than had been before and the others gasped with the difference.

“That was incredible.” Lucy praised.

“You never told me that, Gajeel!” Levy pouted and he just grinned at her – he really liked to piss off his girlfriend.

Natsu seemed very interested. “And you can teach us that?”

“Sure.” Gajeel nodded.

“We could teach you the most basic offensive spells at the moment.” Juvia told him. “It’s all about finding the magic center inside of you and after that, you’ll do it without realizing.”

“Where did you learn that?” Gray wondered, interested.

“Dueling Club.” Juvia shrugged.

“I think this is Auror-level of training.” Gray raised an eyebrow.

“We were _very_ into it.” Juvia chuckled. “Want Juvia to help you find your magic center?”

“By all means.” Gray shrugged and got up. “I can’t wait to power up and fight stupid Natsu.”

“Juvia is not doing this so you two can get even worse at your mock fights. This is for survival.”

“Of course.” He said in a serious tone that didn’t fool her for a second.

The blunette sighed. “Once she helps you, she’s going to help Lucy-san and Cana-san, since Juvia bets Gajeel-kun will try to help Levy-san by himself.” She chuckled.

Gray snorted. “Yeah.”

“Don’t worry, Juvia is sure we will be alright.” She finally kissed his cheek and proceeded to correct his posture when he casted a spell.

**#**

The station was as full as every other September 1st and Juvia had her hands twined with Gray so they couldn’t get separated. They found Natsu and Lucy not too long after arriving – Natsu’s hair was a dead giveaway – and they were about to get inside the train when a small brown owl landed on Juvia’s shoulders.

The four young adults stepped away from the train’s entrance and looked at the animal in question. Juvia took the small parchment on it’s leg and it flew off immediately.

Juvia opened the letter – it was addressed to her, for some reason – and started to read it.

_“It’s not a ‘maybe’ anymore. Run. – Ur”_

Juvia’s eyes widened and she gave the parchment to Gray while she looked around and in a few seconds, she spotted three men she was sure were Death Eaters, since she remembered one of them from The Battle of The Third Task.

“Oh, no.” She whispered to herself, heart beating inside her chest like crazy – Ur was right, if they wanted Natsu, there was no way none of them would step aside and let it happen, especially her Gray-sama.

“Why did she send this to you and not me?” Gray frowned.

“If she did, they’d know. To them, I’m just some random person.” Juvia told him. “There are three men coming our way.”

“Bloody hell.” Lucy whispered.

“Let them come.” Natsu’s hands turned into fists.

“No.” Juvia shook her head. “You three need to leave, right now.”

“What?” Gray frowned.

“No way!” Natsu exclaimed.

“Juvia!”

“If they went through all trouble to not wait for you to arrive at Hogwarts, something is up.” She told them, going through her expanded purse until she took a piece of paper. “You need to run, as your mother told you to.”

“You are coming too, right?” Gray asked and Juvia shook her head, looking over her shoulder, seeing the men getting closer. “Too much people will complicate things.” Her eyes locked with Lucy, who understood her; it was their only choice at the moment. The blonde started to whisper at her boyfriend.

“But-” Gray tried, but Juvia pulled him for a kiss and pushed the purse into his hands. “Take it. There’s a little bit of money and some of the paper we use to communicate at school. Only write at night.”

“Juvia…” He tried again.

“Juvia will be fine and so will you. Never tell me where you are, just tell me if you are okay.” She kissed him again. “I will be alright, Juvia’s tough.” He kissed again, trying to prolong the impending good-bye. “Go. Go now.”

“Be safe.” Gray was the one kissing her that time and she nodded – she wouldn’t dare to disobey him. The next second, he told their friends to hold on and they were gone, apparated somewhere.

Juvia breathed in relief when the men saw she was alone and cussed. She had no idea where they went and they couldn’t take that information from her so she stared at them with defiance.

**#**

After explaining their friends why Natsu, Lucy and Gray were missing, the train ride to Hogwarts was quiet – they knew their year wouldn’t be easy.

Once they arrived at the castle and were at their designated tables, Professor Makarov started his speech about how much of a trial that year could be and then he said the words that would change Juvia’s life forever.

“And I would like to introduce you to the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, appointed by the Ministry: Invel Yura.”

Juvia clapped as everyone else as the man in question rose from his seat with the other teacher. Invel had average height and most of his long, white hair is bunched into a ponytail by a golden brace. The ponytail hangs past his right shoulder, reaching up to his chest. The rest of his hair was quite messy, with uneven bangs falling down the sides of his face and between his eyes.

And for a moment, just for a brief moment, his eyes met hers and her whole body froze with it.

That man  was dangerous and her gut was rarely wrong.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this wasn’t too quick (even though I felt it was) but now we are entering in a phase I’m really looking forward to, I’ve been planning it for a long time.


	13. Seventh Year – Part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We get a bit of Sassy!Juvia and I’m sorry, but I have to warn you: Trigger alert for torture.  
> I dedicate this chapter to Giushia, who made an amazing doodle of this story sometime ago and I never properly thanked her! Thank you dear, and if you are still reading this story: I hope you enjoy the chapter. ;)

“Lumos.” Juvia whispered underneath her blanket to not awake her roommates and took the paper she used to talk to Gray with at nights, since they didn’t share a Common Room and sometimes wanted to communicate. She grabbed a quill and quickly wrote on it.

_‘Are you alright? Safe?’_ The words faded a few seconds later.

She waited, her heart beating fast inside her chest and fearing the worse. What if they had been caught? What if one of them was hurt and in need of assistance? Oh, Merlin, what if she did the wrong thing? She should’ve gone with them.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the paper vibrated a little and words appeared, her breath got caught in her throat as Gray’s handwrite filled the paper.

_‘We are safe for now and we’re not harmed.’_ The words disappeared after a few seconds and then more words appeared. _‘How about you? How is everyone at Hogwarts?’_

Juvia almost cried in relief: her Gray-sama was alive and as well as one could be while running from a Dark Wizard, it seems.

_‘We are okay.’_ She wrote. _‘Worried about you. All three of you.’_

_‘Be careful. Everyone knows we are dating, they could try to see if you have any information.’_

_‘Juvia doesn’t have any information and you won’t tell her anything you are doing, so she’ll never know anything.’_

_‘I don’t care, be careful and tell the others to be careful as well. When we are ready, we’ll sent for you.’_

_‘Shouldn’t have told me that.’_ Juvia wrote with a sigh. _‘No information, Gray-sama. Juvia can give you as much information as you want, but not the other way around.’_

‘You are right, sorry.’ He wrote and then added it. ‘Something new at Hogwarts?’

_‘New teacher of Defence Against Dark Arts appointed by the Ministry. Juvia will have a class with him in two days.’_ She wrote. _‘He kept looking at Juvia during dinner, it was creepy.’_

_‘Bloody hell.’_ Gray answered her. _‘What’s his name?’_

_‘Invel Yura.’_ Juvia told him.

‘ _We’ll look into him but trust your instincts, if you think he is up to something, he probably is.’_

‘Juvia knows. Don’t worry, Juvia will stay out of his way as much as she can.’

_‘I have to go, we are leaving early in th-’_ He stopped writing once he realized he, once again, was giving away information. _‘I have to go.’_

Juvia actually chuckled. _‘You will get the hang of it. Good night and be safe. Juvia loves you.’_ She teared up as she wrote the last words.

_‘I know. Be safe too. Write me tomorrow night.’_

_‘Of course. Good night.’_

_‘Good night.’_

Juvia stared at the paper for a few moments before she finally took it away and hid under her pillow. “ _Nox_.” She whispered and the light on her wand was extinguished.

**#**

The first few classes of Defence Against Dark Arts were interesting, but the new teacher, Invel Yura seemed okay enough, asking some of the students to read a chapter of their books out loud as he explained a few spells: he didn’t let them practice, though.

Juvia did her best to stay out of his sight and sat on the back of the class, which was highly unusual for her. Gajeel sat next to her, all but sleeping during the reading and Juvia could see Levy throwing exasperated looks at him – they shared the class with the Ravenclaws that year – and then looked at Juvia, who just shrugged at her, smiling.

One day, once class was over, Juvia woke Gajeel up as usual and while they were getting their books to go down to the Great Hall to eat, the Professor cleared his throat and everyone looked in his direction.

“Miss Lockser, a moment, please?”

Juvia frowned and saw Gajeel tense and the moment Levy arrived to stand next to her boyfriend, she casted a worried look at the other blunette – she was well aware of what was happening.

“Of course, sir.” She told the older man, who walked to his office, leaving the door opened for her.

“We’ll wait here.” Gajeel told her and Juvia shook her head.

“No, go on. Juvia can take care of herself and if he sees you here, he could become suspicious. Even more so.” Juvia said in a whisper. “We’ll meet at the Great Hall.”

“Be careful. That guy gives me the creeps.” Levy told her friend and Juvia nodded, taking her things with her and walking towards the office.

“Close the door, please.” Professor Yura said once Juvia entered the office. He was looking outside the window behind his desk, hands behind his back. “Take a seat.”

Juvia sat down on one of the chairs in front of the desk and waited.

“I was a Ravenclaw when I studied here.” The Professor said. “I was always a very good student and coming back brings a lot of memories.” He finally turned to look at her, fixing his glasses. “Your grades are exceptional, so were your O.W.L’s. I wondered why you sit on the back, though. You seem like a girl who would seat on the front row.”

Juvia was surprised he even noticed that – her gut was sending alarms to her brain – and she finally answered a moment later. “Juvia’s friend sits on the back and she just sat next to him. Juvia can learn just as well from any seat.” She lied.

“I see.” Professor Yura nodded and sat down. “It is of my knowledge three students didn’t come to Hogwarts this year and one of them is your boyfriend.”

Wanting to thread lightly, Juvia just agreed. “Yes.”

“Do you know why?”

“No.” She lied with ease.

The older man smirked a little, sending shivers down Juvia’s spine. “You see, I know you are lying, Miss Lockser. I know you spent the summer with Gray Fullbuster. I find highly unlikely he didn’t share he wouldn’t come to school this year.”

Juvia narrowed her eyes and decided to play along to see how much information he had. “How would you know that, sir?”

“People talk.” It was his answer.

“Not the people who knew about it.” The Slytherin told him.

“Maybe _they_ told the wrong people.” Juvia hummed in acknowledgment but didn’t give away anything else. “So… do you know why Gray Fullbuster, alongside with Lucy Heartfilia and Natsu Dragneel decided not to come to school this year?”

“They are seventeen now, they can decide not to return here.” Juvia shrugged. “So, they decided.”

“Do you know where they are? I would like to convince them to finish school, is my job as a teacher, you see.”

“No idea.” She didn’t lie – in their nightly messages, Gray never revealed where they were.

“So Gray Fullbuster is no longer your boyfriend?”

It hurt her to, but she answered: “No.”

“Is that so?” He put his elbows on the desk and crossed his hands to use as support for his chin. “I heard he was very passionate about you two dating when people were having problems accepting a Gryffindor and a Slytherin together.”

How did he…? Juvia cleared her throat. “You sure hear a lot of things, Professor.”

Invel’s smirk deepened a bit. “You are being very sly.”

“And you are asking some very personal questions.”

“I am only concerned about the welfare of my students.” He told her.

“They were never your students.” Juvia rebuked, getting annoyed.

“Oh, my.” Professor Yura chuckled. “You know, during the few classes we had together and the information I gathered, you didn’t seem like much of a Slytherin, not the Slytherins I remember, that is, but here you are, showing your bite.”

“You have not seen my bite.” Juvia hissed, dying to add ‘yet’, but instead, she added: “ _Sir_.”

“No, I have not and I look forward to see it.” He said and he put his hands back down on the table and Juvia took a glimpse of his right forearm, seeing a tattoo she had seen before, the same mark in the sky just a few months before. The hairs on the back of Juvia’s neck raised, she was suddenly _very_ afraid and regretted not having Gajeel waiting for her back in the classroom but if she showed weakness, he would exploit that. Her gut was right: he was a bad man. “I think we will be seeing _a lot_ of each other this year, Miss Lockser.”

Juvia got up, books in hand and said, in her best controlled voice. “Juvia thinks so too, sir, we _do_ have classes together twice a week after all. Good day.”

She turned around and left the room as fast as she could, heart beating fast, adrenalin and fear rushing inside her veins.

That wasn’t good _at all_.

**#**

“Bloody hell.” Cana said while walking around the Come and Go Room, the next night after the closest friends of those who weren’t there, managed to set up a time to talk. “He looks at me funny as well, I think he knows I’m Lucy’s friend.”

“Are you _sure_ you saw a Dark Mark on his forearm?” Wendy wondered.

“Yes. There’s no mistaking it and… Juvia feels as if he did that on purpose.” The blunette told them and there was silence in the room for a few seconds.

The Come and Go Room looked nothing like the other times she had been there: it was very bare with the exception of having a round table and enough seats for everyone.

“Mira, Erza, Ever… they graduated now.” Cana sighed. “They would know what to do.”

“We shouldn’t be seen together.” Lisanna proposed. “My brother would say it was the manly thing to do.” Lisanna sighed, missing her siblings, both had graduated from school already. “This year… it’s nothing like the others. They are targeting Natsu and okay, he has Lucy and Gray as backup and that’s great that they are together, but we have our own enemies here.”

Levy nodded, agreeing with her fellow Ravenclaw. “He already singled out Juvia because he knows she’s Gray’s girlfriend and tried very subtly to intimidate her. I fear this will only escalate as they don’t find Natsu.”

“So what? We just stop speaking?” Gajeel asked, wondering how he would be with his own girlfriend during that year.

“In public, let’s keep it to the minimum.” Cana said. “You and Levy can’t just _stop_ , of course, it would cause more suspicion than necessary, but us?” She pointed to the rest of them, with exception of Juvia. “No, too risky. We should meet up once every two weeks, though and swap information but if it’s something urgent…”

“We break the rule.” Juvia nodded. “Juvia agrees. “It’s better we know nothing besides what is happening inside the Castle. Juvia can pass on any usable information to Gray-sama, so, if it’s something _really_ important, talk to Juvia.”

“Agreed.” Everyone nodded.

“Stay clear of Professor Yura and say nothing to anyone else. _We_ are the only ones we can trust.” Juvia said.

**#**

One day, there were some new faces around the school, all appointed by the Ministry to be “auxiliaries” at the classes and suddenly everyone felt as if they were being guarded in a prison rather than being at a school.

The worse ones were Dimaria Yesta and Ajeel Ramal who, it seemed, loved to harass any student they thought was too weak to defend themselves. Some of the others were quieter, but not less intimidating.

At almost every class there was an “auxiliary” to supervise it, to make sure the students were learning what the Ministry thought it was right until one day, they became agitated and disappeared for the day.

Juvia commented to Gajeel during lunch that she had a bad feeling inside her gut about that and the night before she hadn’t been able to get a hold to Gray – he had yet to reply her last message.

The Slytherin and Hufflepuff seventh years had been having a class of Charms with Professor Gildarts when both Dimaria and Ajeel barged in.

“What is going on? What do you want?” Gildarts hissed in annoyance at them – no teacher liked the new additions to the castle.

“We need for Juvia Lockser to come with us.” Dimaria said in a bored voice while walking right where Juvia was seated next to Gajeel, making both Slytherin plus Cana and Biska to tense.

“What for?” Gildarts asked, putting himself between the two wizards and Juvia – she noticed his hand reached for his wand and the others’ did too; it could turn into a fight at any second.

“We need to talk to her, Professor.” Dimaria offered him a fake smile, her hand tightening on her wand. “Ministry business.”

“I fail to see what a seventeen-year-old taking Charms class has to offer to the Ministry.” Gildarts all but barked.

“That’s for us to know, you do not have clearance.” Ajeel was the one to answer and the tension was growing so much, some of the students were recoiling in fear.

If the three of them broke into a fight, it could be catastrophic with lots of injuries of innocent bystanders. Decided, Juvia got up from the seat.

“It’s no trouble, Professor.” Juvia offered him her best fake smile. “Juvia is sure it’s something quick. Can you take Juvia’s things back to the Common Room if Juvia doesn’t return until class is over, Gajeel-kun?” With his eyes, Gajeel was warning her not to go but she couldn’t risk it. “Huh?”

“Yes.” He hissed between gritted teeth – he hated being cornered like that.

“Alright, then.” Juvia stepped around the teacher. “Excuse me, Sir. Juvia will try to come back before class ends.”

Even Gildarts seemed to think it was a bad idea for Juvia to go with them but there was little he could do at the moment. “If you are sure.”

“Juvia is.” The fake smile was still on and she nodded at the two wizards who came to retrieve her. “Shall we?” She raised her chin and walked towards the door, the feeling in her gut clearly saying she wouldn’t attend any other class that day.

**#**

She knew things would go south as soon as they headed towards the dungeons and didn’t go to the Slytherin Common Room and the Potions Classroom. They were heading to Dungeon Five, one of the most secluded classrooms in the Castle, almost never used.

She wasn’t expecting to see all the auxiliaries from the Ministry and the Defence Against Dark Arts inside it, waiting for her.

As impassive as she could be, Juvia asked: “Did you want to see Juvia?”

“Yes.” It was Professor Yura who answered and then pointed to a single chair in the middle of the room. “Take a seat, please.”

The blunette gulped but did as told, the weight of her wand inside her robe barely a consolation – there was no way she could fight them all and get out of there alive.

“You see, Miss Lockser, there was a sighting of your boyfriend and your two friends close to Glasgow. Do you know anything about that?”

“No.” She really didn’t – Gray hadn’t break the rule and never told her where they were.

“Well, when some… friends, arrived to check it out, they were already gone.”

“Are you still ensuring they return to school for educational purposes?” Juvia asked.

“Let’s stop pretending.” Dimaria rolled her eyes. “You know what we are and we know what you are.”

Juvia was confused. “What Juvia is?”

“You are the reason they will come to Hogwarts.” Invel said, calmly. “We know you communicate with them. I believe in you when you say you didn’t know about them being near Glasgow, you are clearly too smart for that, because… what? The less you know, the safer you will be? Is that the plan? If you don’t know anything we have no reason to come after you?”

Juvia’s only answer was to raise her chin in defiance. “Smart.” Invel praised her and started to circle the chair Juvia was on. “But… what if, just what if, you knew nothing of real value and you still suffered as if you did?”

It was as if cold water was inside Juvia’s veins all of a sudden. “What do you mean?”

“What if they know you are being persecuted just for being Gray Fullbuster’s girlfriend and their friend? What if they knew you were being, well, let’s be honest: _tortured_ , in here even though you know nothing? They _are_ Gryffindors.”

“And we all know how hot-headed and reckless we can be.” Ajeel chuckled. “I am the living proof of it.”

The blunette gulped. “So… you will torture Juvia to get their attention?”

“We are at war.” It was Invel’s simple answer, as if they were having a business transaction.

“Just answer Juvia one question.” She was brave enough to ask. “Why You-Know-Who wants Natsu-san so much?”

Invel tilted his head, pondering his options, but he answered her anyways: “Blood calls for blood.” Before Juvia could ask what that meant, the white-haired man pointed his wand at her and said, calmly: “ _Crucio._ ”

Juvia felt pain in each cell of her body, her whole body tensed and she fell on the ground, yelling and bending her body in everyway it could bend. It seemed as if it went on forever, but surely, it couldn’t be more than a few seconds. It didn’t matter, she never in her life felt so much pain.

The moment it was over, her body went slack and she was breathing heavily, body still spasming from the pain, when, without any notice, Dimaria did it again and Juvia could swear she was going to die. Her heart hurt, her lungs, she couldn’t breathe and she could feel pain from head to toes and she was sure she was going to throw up the moment it was over.

The second time the spell was stopped, just as she predicted, Juvia turned around to her side and vomited everything she had in her stomach, choking a few times, all while spasms of pain still haunted her body and she shook in agony. Her head was pounding, she was filthy, every muscle in her body hurt and she thought she might never walk again – she couldn’t feel her legs.

“The next time you speak to your boyfriend, you tell him _this_ is just going to get worse until he appears.” Invel told her while Juvia was still struggling to breathe. “I am not a very patient man, Miss Lockser. The Dark Lord wants Natsu Dragneel and if I have to torture and kill you, _I will_ , make no mistake.” He and the others started to walk towards the door. “Now do get yourself cleaned up, this is a respectable institution.”

**#**

Juvia stayed lying on the dirty floor of Dungeon Five for Merlin knows how long and when she finally managed to sit down, it was as if the world was spinning around her. She was filthy and she really needed a bath but there was no way she could walk around the castle until she found a bathroom the way she was. God, she had a little bit of vomit on her robe.

With legs still shaking, Juvia got up, holding on to the chair and took off her robe, folding it and then loosed her hair from its messed braids, letting her wavy blue hair flow behind her back.

She retrieved her wand and whispered a spell to clean her blouse and her skirt and the dirt from her skin before she walked out from the Dungeon.

Juvia knew her friends would be looking for her as soon as classes were over, but Juvia couldn’t deal with them at the moment. Everything hurt and she needed to lick her wounds.

Thankful that most students were still in class, Juvia managed to limp her way to a prefect’s bathroom – she would need to thank Lisanna for sharing the password with her – and when she finally entered the bath, her body seemed to relax a little, as it usually did where water was involved.

She couldn’t believe a teacher had casted the Cruciatus Curse on her; and it was nothing like it was described on the books. People think they knew pain, but nothing would ever compare to those minutes in hell. Nothing.

The Slytherin was feeling so tired she almost fell asleep in the tub, but caught herself before she did and she knew it was time to go back to the Common Room.

All she wanted to do was to go to her bed and stay there for a week to see if the aches of her body would ease up, but the moment she stepped inside the Slytherin Dungeon, Gajeel was in front of her.

“Juvia!” He pulled her to a corner and asked, in a lower voice: “What happened to you? You missed supper! What did they want with you?”

“Not tonight, Gajeel-kun.” Juvia said, weakly.

“What do you mean ‘not tonight’?” Gajeel frowned in confusion. “Why do you look so tired?”

“Not tonight.” Juvia started to walk towards the stairs that led to the girls’ dorms. “In the morning. We’ll talk in the morning.” She moaned a bit while going up the stairs.

“Juvia.” Gajeel’s serious tone made her stop and turn to look at him. “Should I be worried?”

She thought about lying, she thought about telling her how fine she was, but she just didn’t have the strength to do so. “Yes, you should. Tomorrow.” She promised him when she saw him pale – if Juvia was saying it was time to worry, it was. Big time.

**#**

After getting changed to her fuzzy comfy pajamas, Juvia was about to go to sleep when she felt a vibration come from underneath her pillow. She grabbed her wand, pulled the covers up and whispered “ _Lumos_ ”.

_‘I’m sorry I didn’t write you yesterday, we had to move during the night and I couldn’t stop. It was a close call.’_ The words disappeared a moment later.

Juvia’s eyes watered, finally knowing exactly what he meant. She grabbed a quill to answer him.

_‘It’s okay. Are the three of you alright?’_

_‘Yes. Just tired, but I didn’t want to go to sleep without hearing from you. Bloody hell, I miss you. We should’ve stayed at my house forever.’_ He wrote and Juvia sobbed, thinking back on all the good memories they made in that house. _‘How are you? Anything happened the past couple of days?’_

Invel’s words came back to her and Juvia was sure he was appealing to her self-preservation, thinking she would run and tell Gray all about Dungeon Five. Well, he had another thing coming.

_‘No, nothing happened. Everything is fine.’_ She wrote back.

There was nothing in the world that would make her betray or put her Gray-sama or her friends in danger.

She fell asleep after a few more notes exchanged between her and Gray and she cried for ten minutes because of how lonely and afraid she was.

She was Juvia Lockser, though, and she’d rather be hurt herself than people she cared about. Invel Yura wouldn’t break her that easily.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooo sorry, I hate to put Juvia through this crap, but his has been in my mind since the story began and next chapter things will get intense! 


	14. Seventh Year – Part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go!

 

“This is getting out of hand.” Cana said, leading Juvia towards a chair. They were meeting at the Come and Go Room ten days after the first time Invel called Juvia to the Dungeons and used an Unforgivable Curse on her and since then, it happened four more times, the last one just half an hour before. They didn’t have enough time to waste, if they didn’t show up to supper in a few minutes, people could get suspicious. “You don’t look too good, Juvia.”

“Juvia is fine, Cana-san.” The blunette tried to smile. “Don’t worry.”

Lisanna kneeled in front of Juvia and put a hand on Juvia’s cheek and checked her face. “I don’t know, Juvia… You look way paler than usual. Being cursed one time is bad enough, five in such a small amount of time is worrying.”

“She won’t hear it.” Gajeel was pacing around the room like a caged tiger, just itching to get into a fight. When Juvia told him what had happened, she had to actually immobilize him with a spell so he wouldn’t go after Invel. It took a lot of convincing, but Gajeel hadn’t gone and got into a fight with Invel. Yet. “I told her we should _do_ something about it or she should just leave to find the other three morons.” Everyone knew Gajeel loved their friends, but he didn’t know how to express it without being rude or sarcastic. “She’s a target here.”

“It’s fine.” Juvia sighed, tired of having the same argument over and over again. “I can take it.”

Levy frowned and walked closer to Juvia, putting a hand on her forehead. “You are pale but your cheeks are kind of reddish. Maybe you have a fever?”

“No, it’s fine. Juvia just needs to lie down for a bit, it helps.” She gently pushed the hands away from her and got up, thankful her legs were no longer shaking.

“You should eat something.” Cana suggested, clearly worried.

The blunette shook her head. “No, that makes it worse.” She chuckled without humor. “

“You are getting weaker.” Gajeel told her, finally stopping his pacing. “You know the first rule, Juvia: always be in your best condition and _this_ is not it.” He all but yelled when Juvia opened her mouth to contradict him. “No, don’t you start saying you are fine. You are not fine! Anyone here can see you are barely hanging on. This is the _Cruciatus Curse_ , Juvia! People go _crazy_ after a while because of the pain and I can see you are so fucking tired all the time.” Gajeel took a few steps towards her, ignoring when his girlfriend tried to stop him by putting a hand on his chest and the other girls were in high alert, Gajeel loved his friend and wouldn’t hurt her, but Juvia was in a frail state to say the least.

“You should leave. Write Gray, meet up and get out of this bloody fucking hell!” Gajeel told her harshly. “You have the privilege to not seeing yourself fade away, but _we_ don’t. You are not eating properly because you said so yourself it makes you sick after they are done with you, I’m sure as hell you are not sleeping either, not if the bags under your eyes are any indication. We get to see someone who just a couple weeks ago were all about the fight, getting drawn and silent. This is not you. You are seventeen now, just fucking leave!”

For the first time in days, Juvia felt a burst of energy with Gajeel’s words and she was just so… angry! What the bloody hell did he think she was doing that for?

“ _Leave_? You want Juvia to leave?” The blunette asked her oldest friend. “If you have any way of contacting Gray-sama or the others in a way that it’s _one hundred per cent safe_ , if you _guarantee_ Juvia no one will follow her, please, _do tell_!” She raised her voice, losing it a bit. “Do you think Juvia doesn’t want to fucking _leave_?” Her eyes watered. “Do you think I don’t wish I were dead _every time_ they curse me? Because _I do_. It _is_ torture, Gajeel-kun, but in case you haven’t noticed, _this is war_! People might not be killing each other publicly _yet_ , but we are at war since the moment You-Know-Who returned. Besides, we are hostages here. Why do you think the Death Eaters have so much leverage? They have a castle with hundreds of children and teenagers they could just kill if they want to.

“Every time they take me and curse me, the only thing that keeps Juvia from going crazy is the fact that if they are doing that, it means they didn’t find them yet.” A stray tear fell from Juvia’s eye. “The moment they find them, Juvia will either be of no use or taken to be killed off in front of them. All of us, really.” The others paled – they hadn’t thought about if their friends were caught. “Right now, they know you are not in contact with them, they cut all ties but in their mind, a young man wouldn’t just leave his girlfriend behind with nothing so Juvia is the best option to get information. And they are not wrong, Juvia has been in contact with Gray-sama and it’s not safe but Juvia wouldn’t be able to take it if we couldn’t. I know nothing of their location, but they hope I do. We should get ready to leave at any minute, get backpacks ready and be prepared to have just a minute’s notice. If Juvia gets killed-”

“What?” Cana exclaimed in disbelief.

“If Juvia gets killed” The blunette continued “you all need to leave. Don’t take revenge, don’t do anything stupid. Just leave and hide until it’s time for the real war to come.”

“You are talking about getting fucking killed-” Gajeel’s voice was loud, but Juvia’s yell cut him off.

“ _I’m fighting the best way that I know how without getting anyone killed_!” Everyone looked at Juvia with wide eyes – she rarely lost her cool and never yelled. “You don’t understand, but every time I meet with them, they let something slip: a location, a simple detail and Juvia tells that to Gray-sama. It sucks, but we need information! We can’t always use our wands to fight and Juvia is choosing to fight like this for now and that doesn’t make me stupid or weak. I will never give up but yes, it’s taking its toll on me and Juvia doesn’t think she her body can take much more.” She was crying, feeling exhausted. “Everything hurts all the time because I don’t have time to recover and I can’t go to the Hospital Wing since Professor Yura said it would become worse if I did; I have nightmares, I’m constantly afraid when Gray-sama doesn’t answer me at the same night I wrote but if going into that dungeon with that psycho is what takes for me to know he is fine, _they_ are fine, I’ll do it.”

Lisanna put an arm around Juvia’s shoulders. “No one thinks you are weak, Juvia. Many people would’ve cracked the first time it happened. We are just worried.”

“Thank you, but Juvia will know when it’s time to leave.” She looked at Gajeel. “We will have to leave at some point, all of us, but it’s not that time yet.”

“What, we leave when we find your lifeless body?” Gajeel snarled.

“Hopefully, before that.” Juvia sighed. “Like I said, if that happens, leave. They get a little… _enthusiastic_ some times and it can last much, _much_ longer and accidents happen, but they don’t want to kill Juvia just yet.” She told them. “If you want, Juvia can expand backpacks so you can get one ready with as many useful things you might need. Juvia has one already prepared for the day we need to run.”

“You do?” Cana raised an eyebrow.

“Yes.” Juvia nodded. “Just... be ready. Juvia can feel it the time is coming that none of us will be able to be in public.”

**#**

Juvia was curled on a chair in front of the fireplace, feeling colder than usual. It was almost Christmas and even with two jumpers, she was still shivering and sometimes way too hot. Perhaps it was another side-effect of her “sessions” with Professor Yura.

Almost a month and Juvia hadn’t cracked yet and even though the Death Eaters inside the school were growing frustrated, they were also quite enjoying having someone to torture. She was an orphan, after all. Who’d care?

Of course, Professor Makarov started to suspect something was happening and stopped her on the hallway one day, but Juvia managed to lie and tell she was feeling down because of Gray’s absence. The older man wasn’t too convinced, but let her go.

She was staring so intently at the fire she didn’t hear Gajeel approaching her, until he spoke. “At least blink so I’ll know you are not dead.”

The blunette chuckled. “Juvia must be a sight, huh?”

“You look as if you are going to drop at any minute.” Gajeel told her. “Have you even eaten today?”

Juvia nodded. “Lunch. I can’t eat anything tonight or it’ll be a mess tomorrow when they get Juvia in the dungeons.” She sighed.

Gajeel’s red eyes seemed to glow with the reflection of the fire. “One day I will _kill_ them.”

“Hopefully they will be brought to justice before that can happen. Juvia would hate for you to be sent to Azkaban.”

Gajeel shrugged. “Hey, you said it so yourself: we’re at war. It would be completely self-defense.”

Juvia tried not to, but let out a small laugh and then they were quiet for a few moments. “Are you ready?”

She didn’t need to clarify further than that, they knew time was coming when they’d need to leave or to be used as leverage against their missing friends – it was a miracle their focus had been Juvia.

“Yeah.” Gajeel nodded, looking at the fire. “Do you know when?”

“Soon, Juvia reckons.” She answered. “Juvia knows her body and it’s getting on its limit.” She chose not to tell him about the green-and-purple rash between the toes or that one time she sneezed fire. He would make a scene out of it, but she was sure it was nothing – perhaps she was getting the flu and the wizards never had diseases like muggles. “If she wants to get out of this alive, we can’t wait longer. Besides, they aren’t saying much anymore – they are getting annoyed.”

“Alright.” He agreed. “I’ll tell Levy to always carry her backpack and I’m carrying mine.”

“Juvia will talk to Lisanna-san and Cana-san.” Juvia got up from the chair. “We should go to sleep.”

They walked towards the stairs that separated the boys’ dorms from the girls’. The Room was almost empty, seeing it was quite late.

“Good night, Gajeel-kun.”

“Hey.” He called her and Juvia turned. “Be careful. You are annoying, but I’d rather have you annoying me than like… this.” He pointed at her whole body and for the first time in forever, Juvia actually let out a genuine smile.

“Awww, you care about Juvia, Gajeel-kun!” She teased and he rolled his eyes.

“You know what, if you are fine enough to tease me, you are okay so sod off.” He grumbled and turned around to leave but Juvia could see his lips curled a little. “Good night.” He raised his hand without looking behind him and Juvia smiled, going to her room.

It would be months until she saw him again.

**#**

Juvia was writing under to Gray under her covers when the dorm room opened and all the girls all but jumped from their bed and Juvia hid the magic paper under her pillow and when she uncovered herself, she saw Dimaria was there, going her way and she didn’t look pleased.

“You.” She pointed at Juvia. “Up. Now.”

Confused, Juvia did as told and grabbed her robe and wand by instinct and gasped when Dimaria started to trash her bed until she found the piece of paper that had Gray’s handwrite on, saying: _“How are things over there?”_

“Come.” She grabbed Juvia by the arm and even the roommates who never really cared for her, looked concerned with the sudden interruption.

“Where are we going?” Juvia asked Dimaria, but the blonde woman kept quiet and led Juvia out of the Communal Room – a couple of students were there and Juvia was sure, by morning, the whole castle would know Juvia Lockser was dragged away.

Juvia thought they were going to the usual spot, but instead, they were headed to Professor Yura’s office. They passed the classroom and Dimaria pushed Juvia inside harshly and the white haired man raised an eyebrow at the action, clearly not pleased.

“Here.” Dimaria gave the paper to Invel. “No more games. _Make her_ , Invel, or I swear to Merlin I’ll kill her the next time I see her.” Juvia’s eyes widened because she knew every word out of the older woman’s mouth was the truth. Dimaria looked at Juvia in distaste before leaving the room.

Juvia, confused and afraid, waited.

“I apologize in her behalf.” Invel pointed to the chair in front of his desk and Juvia sat down. The paper in his hand making her fear more for her boyfriend and her friends than for herself. They finally had enough. “She was given a false lead and when it fell through, The Dark Lord… wasn’t pleased. Let’s say you take the Cruciatus Curse far better than she did.”

_‘Oh, bloody sensational, arsehole’_ , Juvia thought but she couldn’t help it but to feel a little vindicated.

Invel looked down to the paper while sitting down behind the desk. “So… this is how you and Gray Fullbuster communicated.” He saw Gray’s reply. “Simple but efficient. Young lovers often have papers like this to keep in touch even from afar. Sometimes the simple way, is the best way, wouldn’t you agree?”

Juvia gulped. “What do you want?”

“We tried the ‘fun’ way to have you tell Gray Fullbuster what we were doing to you, but you were very resilient – congratulations, by the way – but I’m afraid we can no longer wait.”

“Why?” Juvia asked.

“The Dark Lords needs Natsu Dragneel and you can make him and his friends surface.” Invel said. “I was told they are the type to come to the rescue of a friend in need. I put you in need and you didn’t tell them. Now, I will have to make you tell them.”

Juvia shook her head. “No. Juvia will never help you.”

Invel’s smile was annoyingly condescending. “I don’t think you understood, Miss Lockser. I said I will _make_ you.” He took his wand from the desk and Juvia’s eye widened when she realized what he meant. She was about to get up and leave but he was faster. “ _Imperio_.” He said and suddenly Juvia’s body froze. “Pick up the quill.” Juvia tried to fight it, but she was so tired mentally and physically, she did just as he said. God, she was so weak.

He put the paper in front of her. “I need you to write: ‘ _Please, help. They are hurting me to get information. Please, Gray.’_ ” Juvia’s handwrite was shaky, but she did as she was told. Once she was done, Invel released her and took the paper to watch her work. “Good. Now let’s see if he’s going to answer.”

Juvia had just a few seconds to decide on what to do. She couldn’t let her boyfriend and friends come to Hogwarts, to a trap. She couldn’t let them get caught or the magic world would be in jeopardy.

“Oh, he replied quite quickly.” Invel looked down to the paper and that was the distraction Juvia needed.

Knowing she wouldn’t be able to get her wand without him noticing, Juvia grabbed a heavy book that was on his desk, grabbed and with strength she didn’t even know she had after all she’d been through, Juvia swung the book and hit him right across the face, his glasses flew somewhere, but she didn’t pay attention.

She threw the book away, grabbed her wand and yelled: “ _Petrificus Totalus_!” The older man froze on his seat and Juvia quickly got the paper.

It read: _‘What? What do you mean?_ ’

Juvia took the quill and wrote him back. ‘ _It is a TRAP_.’ She underlined it three times. ‘ _Juvia is fine but can’t stay at Hogwarts anymore. She’ll try to find you. Don’t come out of hiding. DO NOT COME!_ ’ She underlined it again. ‘ _Juvia is leaving!_ ’

The moment the words disappeared from the paper, Juvia said: “ _Incendio!_ ” It broke her heart, since it was her only mean to communicate with him, but it was compromised, then, and she couldn’t let it fall into the wrong hands if her escape wasn’t successful.

She said: “ _Accio_ Juvia’s purse” and after a moment: “ _Accio_ Gray-sama’s broomstick”, knowing Gray’s things were still at his room.

Juvia turned to Invel and said “Incarcerous” and roped appeared so Juvia tied him up the best way possible. He started to regain movement, but Juvia petrified him once more and got the handkerchief he always had in his pocket, in his mouth.

In an unusual fit of rage, Juvia looked into his eyes, then his most-likely broke nose, dripping blood from where she had hit him with a book. Without thinking twice, Juvia slapped him on his left cheek with all her strength then leaned to tell him: “ _This_ is my bite. I waited and waited until the right moment. See the Slytherin now?” She said in reference to their first conversation. She grabbed his wand and broke it right in front of him and she saw his eyes widen a little and he grunted. She knew it hurt to see, but he deserved it. “I could do what you’ve done to me so many times, right here and right now. But Juvia won’t because she’ll not lower herself to your level.” Invel couldn’t speak yet, but oh boy, by the look in his eyes, he was carefully planning on how to kill her. “I hope your Dark Lord gets as pissed as he did with Dimaria. See you in battle, _Professor_.”

For good measure, she petrified him again before coming out of the room and she was thankful she had chosen to sleep on pajamas and was wearing two jumpers. She left the classroom, trying to be quiet and listening to see if the things she summoned were coming her way.

Her purse arrived first and she started to walk towards one of the many castle doors. Once she arrived at a lateral door and saw it was locked, she whispered: “Alohomora.” And the door opened.

“And where do you think you are going, Miss Lockser?” A male voice stopped her and her heart almost stopped beating, Juvia could swear.

Turning around, she saw it was Professor Gildarts and she breathed in relief. Juvia looked around and seeing no one else, she told him: “Juvia needs to leave.”

“Are you ready to tell me what Invel Yura has been doing by calling you at all hours in private?” His words weren’t accusatory at all: he knew very well who Invel was.

Feeling brave, Juvia finally confessed: “He has been using the Cruciatus Curse to try to get Gray-sama’s attention so him, Natsu-san and Lucy-san would return.”

“He… what?” Professor Gildarts was genuinely surprised.

Juvia looked up and the broomstick was coming their way and Juvia managed to catch it. “Juvia is fine.” She waved his concerns away. “But tonight Professor Yura took Juvia’s way of communicating with Gray-sama and used the Imperius Curse to make Juvia write a letter.” She was speaking fast, since she was hearing commotion coming their way. “Juvia can’t stay to be even more of a target. Juvia kind of… hit him and hexed him and tied him to his chair. Slapped him too so _I’m sorry_. Please, explain this to Professor Makarov and tell Gajeel-kun is time to leave.”

“I…” Gildarts was very confused but the moment they heard someone shout ‘Find her!’, his face hardened. “You go ahead, sweetheart. I’ll hold them off.”

“Professor…” Juvia hesitated.

“Don’t worry about me. I might be old, but don’t forget I’ve fought a war before and I am ready to fight another one.” He winked at her. “When you see Natsu, tell him to be strong. Now go.”

Juvia nodded and, even if she absolutely hated it, Juvia hopped on the broomstick and took a flight with no idea where to but to her freedom, to her boyfriend. To her friends.

And still, she flew a bit crooked to the left.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FLY AWAY, JUVIA, FLYYYYYY! BE FREEEEEEE!


End file.
